A woman who picked up a suspended jail sentence for stealing £13,000 from Patchway Labour Club has escaped jail again after being convicted of benefit fraud.
Hayley Toogood (formerly known as Hayley Wilkins) was yesterday handed a twelve week prison sentence, suspended for two years, for dishonestly claiming £3,490 in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit between April 2010 and September 2011.
The latest conviction puts Toogood in breach of the suspended sentence she received for the Labour Club fraud, which would normally mean she would be sent to jail, but Judge Michael Longman decided to also suspend the latest sentence for two years.
Toogood also appeared in court last October because she had failed to complete enough of the unpaid community work she had been ordered to undertake as part of her sentence for the Labour Club fraud. She claimed she had been unable to do the work because of a bad back.
Judge Longman yesterday ordered her to undertake a further 150 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months and pay £1,000 costs to South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).
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