A court in Belfast has heard of a welfare fraud operation which mirrored a scheme used by the assassin in Frederick Forsythe's novel, "Day of the Jackal".

The fraudsters applied for birth certificates from the Public Records office which were used to obtain National Insurance numbers.

Armed with these numbers, the family at the centre of the operation made fraudulent claims for welfare benefits totalling at least £100,000.

Most of those whose birth certificates were used in the fraud had emigrated from Northern Ireland with some moving to live in the Republic.

Four of those involved included two sisters, one of their daughters and her former boyfriend and, between them, admitted a staggering 177 charges in Belfast Crown Court.

Leniency

None of the defendants received custodial sentences but were given substantial fines by Lord Justice McCollum who described the highly organised frauds as "calculated, determined and totally dishonest".

Freeing the four the judge said he was showing them a degree of leniency he was not sure they deserved.

The first to be freed on a £3000 fine was 57-year-old mother of four Elizabeth Lavery from Riverdale Park North in Andersonstown in west Belfast. She had been described earlier by the judge as a "thoroughly devious and dishonest woman".

The court heard that Ms Lavery used three aliases over seven years up to 1996 to obtain £22,000 in benefits and only admitted her involvement to police after being told her fingerprints had been uncovered on some documents.

Her 36-year-old daughter, Sonia Templeton, a mother of three from Lille Park, Belfast, was given a six-month jail term which was suspended for three years. She was convicted of using five aliases to obtain up to £28,000.

Lord Justice McCollum said the authorities were already trying to recover some of the monies she had defrauded but added that, as a mother, jailing her would create more problems for the community.

Her former boyfriend, Seamus Shannon,37, also of Lille Park, was fined £500 after being convicted of obtaining under £300 illegally.

'Bit players'

An aunt of Sonia Templeton, 53-year-old Rona Clarke from Norfolk Drive in Belfast, also received a suspended six month jail sentence. She was convicted of obtaining over £50,000 fraudulently.

She had worked for the DHSS as a clerical officer and the judge had taken into consideration that she had co-operated fully with the police.

At an earlier court, two other women, Maria Morrison,47, and 31-year-old Frances McCann were described as "bit players" in the overall fraud and were freed by the court.

The two had obtained over £7,000 in illegal benefits. Mother of three Maria Morrison was given a two-year conditional discharge while Ms McCann was freed on two years probation.