Mother jailed for £73,000 maternity scam

Juliett Nneka Eze, 36, claimed she was pressured into the scam which netted fraudsters over £73,000.

Eze, of Ovenden, Halifax, had visited the Halifax Children’s Innovation Centre posing as one of the bogus claimants in order to get that pregnancy verified so a bogus application could be submitted.

Seventeen fraudulent claims for maternity allowance were submitted, Bradford Crown Court heard.

The court heard that professionally-planned fraud also involved setting up bank accounts using stolen identities so benefits could be paid in.

Back in 2006 Eze, of High Croft, Ovenden, was jailed for eight months along with her partner for other fraud offences. Eze pleaded guilty to the fraud charge, which covered the period from January 2009 to October last year.

Barrister Clare Larton, for Eze, said she had been in an abusive relationship for 20 years and her partner was a violent and controlling man.