A WOMAN from west Belfast was convicted yesterday over claiming benefits she was not entitled to worth almost £150,000.
Lorraine Lowry (40), of Snugville Street, off the Shankill Road, claimed income support and housing benefit totalling £146,526 while failing to declare living together as husband and wife.
At Belfast Magistrates' Court, she was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
The benefit fraud was uncovered in a Department for Communities (DfC) probe.
She is also required to repay to the DfC any outstanding money wrongly obtained.
