Benefits fraudster jailed

An auxiliary nurse who swindled £14,500 of social security benefits, claiming she was inspired by the Cook Report TV programme, has been jailed for six months.

Sharron Irving, 49, from Torquay, Devon, admitted carrying out 140 offences during the course of a year to bank the money.

She invented a character called Catherine McVeigh to obtain the benefits after watching the TV programme, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The judge in the case said it was "regrettable" that such programmes put ideas like this inside people's heads.

'Broadcasters' responsibility'

Irving backed up the false identity by obtaining a birth certificate, passport and medical certificates, said prosecutor Andrew Maitland.

She told investigators: "I saw it on the Cook Report and wanted to see if it was as easy as he said it was."

Judge John Neligan said: "This case highlights the fact that broadcasters owe a considerable sense of responsibility to the public."

A spokesman for Carlton TV, which makes the programme, said: "The Cook Report cannot claim to have thought up the idea for taking a different identity to swindle social security. It is preposterous."