Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2011]JRC129

Royal Court

(Samedi)

1 July 2011

The Attorney General

-v-

Katie Marie Gallagher

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Age:  27.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant has been receiving income support since May 2008.  She has two children aged 5 and 2.  As a result of anonymous information received by the Social Security Department, in August 2009 an investigation was initiated into her circumstances. 

On 26^th October, 2009, as part of the investigation, an Income Support Review form was issued to the defendant.  She said that she lived in Springfield Road with her two children and that her partner had moved in with her on 3^rd September, 2009.  Previously, she said, he had lived in Frogmore Apartments, St Helier.  Neither of these statements were true.  Between November 2009 and July 2010 enquiries were made as to where her partner had lived and the information obtained was that since he had moved to Jersey in May 2008 he had lived with the defendant. 

On 18^th August, 2010, the defendant was interviewed at the Social Security Department.  She initially denied sharing her previous accommodation.  After a number of exhibits had been put to her, she admitted that he had been staying with her at the Springfield Road address and had in fact moved with her from the Plat Douet Road address, where he had been living with her since May 2008.  He had never lived at Frogmore Apartments as stated on her claim review form in November 2009. 

On 22^nd September, 2010, she signed an agreement to repay the £18,249.97. Since that time she has taken on a number of part-time jobs to repay these monies, as well as paying other loans. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, remorse, two children to care for, had made efforts to repay. 

Previous Convictions:

None.

Conclusions:

Sentence and Observations of Court:

R. C. P. Pedley, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate C. R. Baglin for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE COMMISSIONER:

1.        Dishonestly taking money in Income Support from the Social Security Department is a very serious offence which involves stealing money from the whole community.  The Crown Advocate is right that the usual penalty for this kind of offending is a custodial sentence. 

2.        In mitigation, this defendant has pleaded guilty; has shown considerable remorse and shame and has done her utmost to repay the money which she took.  She has two young children for whom she is the principal carer. 

3.        Miss Gallagher, the Court has read your letter carefully and we want to say that we are impressed by the way in which you have taken responsibility for what you did and have not tried to make excuses for yourself.  We are also very impressed by the determination that you are showing to repay the money that you took and we are sure that those efforts will continue.  We are also glad that you have been supported in Court by the grandfathers of your two children. 

4.        We are going to impose the custodial sentence for which the Crown Advocate has asked, but we are going to suspend it for a period of 2 years.  That means that if you do not offend again during the next 2 years by committing a serious offence you will not go to prison at all.  If you do offend then you may be brought back to be sentenced again for this offence.  We impose a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment and we order, pursuant to the Criminal Justice Suspended Prison Sentences (Jersey) Law 2003, that it be suspended for a period of 2 years.  

Authorities

Criminal Justice Suspended Prison Sentences (Jersey) Law 2003.

AG-v-Morin [2010] JRC 217D.

AG-v-Manners [2009] JRC 212.

AG-v-Gouveia and Gouveia [2009] JRC 189.

AG-v-Morton [2007] JRC 127.

AG-v-Green 2002/120.

AG-v-Payne 1999/220.

R-v-Graham & Whatley [2005] 1 Cr App R (S) 115.