A doctor fraudulently claimed more than £100,000 in benefits while secretly owning a Spanish holiday home.
Dr Barbara Longley, 60, of Osmond Road, Hove, made repeated claims for benefits to Brighton and Hove City Council but failed to declare her three-bedroom property in Alicante.
She also hid an NHS pension and a bank account containing several thousand pounds.
Yesterday (February 28) she walked free from court despite her crime passing the custody threshold.
Longley admitted ten counts of fraudulently claiming housing and council tax benefit and income support totalling £103,645 at Hove Crown Court.
Rowan Jenkins, prosecuting, said: “Dr Longley made a series of applications for benefits, the first in May 2003, when she completed an application for housing and council tax benefit.
“She stated her only income was child benefit and that she held no other property.
“She didn’t declare she had a £6,500 a year pension from the National Health "Service."
Repeated benefit claims
Longley made repeated claims between 2003 and 2009, when she was living in Bond Street, Brighton.
Mr Jenkins added: “She stated she was finding it hard to pay her bills for rent and other bills as well. She said her only income was from benefits and didn’t mention her pension income at all.”
Longley trained as a doctor and held several posts within the medical profession before being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder.
Nick Hamlin, defending the single mother of two, asked the court to show “mercy” because of her mental health problems.
He said: “Having obtained her qualifications she was struck by this illness and that, on many occasions, leaves her unable to express herself and leads her to errors of judgement.”
Judge Richard Hayward told Longley that she would serve a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years.
She was told she must continue to engage with mental health services or face jail and was ordered to repay a £2,500 contribution to court costs.
The court was told she had already paid back more than £70,000 by selling her Spanish property and would have to repay the remaining £31,849 owed to the council and the Department for Work and pensions.
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