Cleaner jailed for £14,000 benefit cheat

Published on 30/06/2012 12:00

A BENEFITS fraudster who collected £14,000 by hiding the fact she had been working as a cleaner has been jailed.

Catherine McKinlay was caught following a routine check by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Officials discovered she had been claiming Incapacity Benefit for eight years while holding down a job as a cleaner.

McKinlay, 56, of Livingston, West Lothian, was working for Capital Cleaning Services in Edinburgh while pretending to be unfit.

She appeared for sentence at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to benefit fraud.

She was jailed for 95 days after a sheriff told her she couldn’t repay the money fast enough.