A controversial single mother of 10 elected as a Labour councillor has had her trial for benefits fraud postponed again to October - two years after the investigations into her began.
Cllr Claire Baldwin courted controversy when she was elected in Tilbury when she was found to owe thousands of pounds in council tax and council housing benefit and to have been convicted of failing to ensure two of her children attended school. When her council laptop went missing there were calls for her to resign but she refused.
The hearing has been adjourned until October after the judge described the case as a "shambolic state of affairs".
wonkotsane is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
Logging you in...
Posts
Achilles · 566 weeks ago
Or £160 billion pounds a year if you want the annual figure.
You can trust that Labour will borrow more if elected again.
Linda · 565 weeks ago
A former Ukip county councillor and his wife have escaped jail despite swindling nearly £25,000 in a two-year benefit fraud.
Cllr Peter Lagoda and wife Maria, both 59, initially denied the charges against them but changed their plea at the start of their trial last month.
The pair admitted giving Fenland District Council a false address in a bid to cash in on extra benefits.
Lagoda had claimed he lived in a house in South Beach, Cambridgeshire, when in fact he shared a property in Wisbech with his then-girlfriend, now wife.
Peterborough Crown Court had heard the dishonesty stretched for more than two years between June 2008 and November 2010.
The false representation allowed the couple to falsely claim around £11,565 in income support, £2,346 in council tax and £10,949 in housing benefit.
So many scum standing as councillors and MPs.
I don't expect to see this comment posted.