Pregnant mum jailed for swindling £34,000 benefits with claims she worked at Leeds firm

Frederika Gazova even provided fake payslips for the telecommunications company based in Harehills to back up her claims for Universal Credit.

She spent two years keeping up the pretence before being discovered.

She admitted a charge of fraud, but only on the day of her trial, and appeared for sentencing at Leeds Crown Court today where she was jailed.

The 26-year-old, of Scargill Grange, Harehills, later said she was a single mother at the time and was desperate for money.

Prosecutor John Bottomley said she had told the the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2020 that she was working 16 hours at the firm to bolster her claim. This continued until June 2022 by this time she had wrongly received £34,879.

The company with whom Gazova claimed she worked as a cleaner had not heard of her and it was found the payslips she produced were fake.

The court heard that she had only paid back £500 back of what she owed, has two children with a third on the way. She lives with her partner who legitimately claims benefits, with neither working. She has no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Danielle Graham said: “She understands the offending and the circumstances are deeply unattractive to the court. She understands it crosses the custody threshold and she comes prepared for that.

“There’s an incentive to change, she is still young enough and capable of doing so.”

Sign up today for our free daily newsletter, packed with all of the latest news, sports and more from Leeds and the surrounding areas

It was heard that Gazova had come to the UK 10 years ago and was from the Czech Republic.

Judge Ray Singh said: “I know not if you have ever worked legitimately, but what is apparent is that you claimed, quite falsely, that you had been working for a small business in Leeds.

“It was quite a blatant lie from the outset. You had no connection to that business. The owner was contacted and he had never heard of you.

“You stood in that dock and said you were not guilty.”

Judge Singh said that she was already a mother when she committed the offence, so was not convinced she had the incentive to change, as her barrister suggested. He jailed her for nine months.