Claire Bostock, 32, pictured outside court, had illegally filched extra housing benefit and income support for six years without telling welfare officials she was living with the father of her children Jonathan Sykes
A benefits cheat who swindled more than £46,000 by falsely claiming she was a single parent was caught out after being spotted escorting her long-term boyfriend to a black tie dinner.
Claire Bostock, 32, had illegally filched extra housing benefit and income support for six years without telling welfare officials she was living with the father of her children Jonathan Sykes.
But the mother-of-three was busted after inspectors from the Department of Work and Pensions logged onto Bostock s Facebook page and saw a series of lovey dovey pictures of her with Mr Sykes, who works for a floor screeding firm - including two images at his Christmas works do.
COURT: Claire Bostock and Bolton Crown Court A BENEFIT cheat who netted £46,000 after wrongly claiming she was single has tearfully thanked a judge for not sending her to prison. For six years Claire Bostock claimed she was a single mum, pocketing income support and housing benefit when he was living with Jonathan Sykes, the father of her children. In September last year Bostock appeared before Judge Timothy Stead who told her that, if she could prove she had made proper efforts to repay the money she had taken then she would not go to jail. And after hearing that the 32-year-old mum-of-three had been making regular repayments out of her benefits the judge sentenced her to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
Justin Adamson A WOMAN saved her car from being stolen after spotting the thief sat in the vehicle outside her home. Quick-thinking Jessica Wood rushed outside to find the burglar ducked down in the driver s seat with the engine running. But after she demanded he hand over the keys Justin Adamson got out of the vehicle and walked off. The prolific criminal was sentenced to 876 days in prison when he appeared at Bolton Crown Court and admitted burglary. Rachel Widdicombe, prosecuting, told how Mrs Wood was in the kitchen of her home in Greenfold Lane, Westhoughton, just after 2pm on December 13 last year when she head a faint knock at the door.
Bolton Crown Court A THIEF has been jailed for almost two and a half years after last committing a house burglary 16 years ago. Due to stealing a bicycle from a hallway last year Barry Brown fell foul of the so-called three strikes law which makes it mandatory for thieves who have committed three domestic burglaries to be jailed for a minimum of three years, less a reduction for an early guilty plea.
Bolton Crown Court heard how, after committing two burglaries in 2004, 47-year-old Brown began to reform until a return to drugs two years ago. And Hayley Bennett, prosecuting, told how, on June 15 last year, he stole a bicycle from a house after the disabled householder went to get a cigarette he had asked her for.
Bolton School A CONTROLLING man who repeatedly breached a restraining order to turn up at Bolton School has been jailed for seven months. Bolton Crown Court heard how, after a history of domestic abuse and separation from his former wife, shopkeeper Minesh Patel had repeatedly ignored warnings and orders not to contact her or attend their children s school. But Judge Timothy Stead was told that, on October 21 last year, 42-year-old Patel parked his van outside the Chorley New Road school and asked pupils in the playground to call over his teenage son. Mr Patel shortly after got into his van and did a couple of laps of the school before driving away, said Verity Quaite, prosecuting.