A woman who continued to fraudulently claim her mother’s pension for three years after she died said she did it as ‘a way of keeping her mother alive’.
Catherine Byrne, 56, from Bettystown in County Meath, Ireland claims that she did not use the money to enrich herself.
Instead, she says she spent the pension money on buying bouquets of flowers for her mother’s grave, The Irish Mirror reported.
Byrne was handed a two-year suspended sentence after a trial at Dundalk Circuit Court, after promising investigators she would pay back the full amount.
She is now making repayments of €120 a week to the Department of Social Welfare. The judge also mandated her to do 240 hours of community service.
Byrne confessed that she failed to register her mother’s death in 2019 and instead continued to draw her widow’s pension and carer’s allowance over a period of nearly three years.
The first of the fraudulent payments was collected the same year, and they continued until January 2022.
Byrne said she continued to receive the payments as ‘a way of keeping her mother alive’.
Catherine Byrne, 56, from Bettystown in County Meath, Ireland continued getting her mother’s pension after she died – and said she used it to keep her grave maintained (stock pic)
‘The death was not registered, which is an unusual thing and she continued to facilitate the ongoing fraud,’ said Judge Dara Hayes.
He added: ‘She was grieving the loss and it hit her particularly hard but she didn’t inform the Department of the death.’
‘Families everyday have loved ones who die and manage to complete the formalities during their grief.
‘Payments are being made to pay the money back and should take a little over 10 years to repay it.’
The judge conceded that Byrne was not using the money to fund any kind of ‘lavish lifestyle’ and was spending the money on flowers for her mother’s grave.
However, he reiterated that ‘thefts from the public purse are serious offences’.
