'Greedy' Sunderland mother who made £300,000 in benefits by pretended to have 18 children told she does not have to pay back the cash

HMRC worker Tracy Ashbridge applied for handouts for kids that did not exist and lied about her own family having severe disabilities.

The 44-year-old, who was jailed last September, also used her position at work to alter former legitimate claimant's details to get her hands on money.

On one occasion Ashbridge sent her husband a text which read: "Shall we have another child?"

When he asked how they would manage, she responded with: "Not physically, LOL"

Ashbridge, who earned £11,000-per-year in the role she had held since 2012, used a total of nine bank accounts to receive the dishonest payouts between 2015 and 2019.

The mum-of-four, of Plough Road, Sunderland, who admitted six charges of fraud, tried to pocket a total of £434,128.

During a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Newcastle Crown Court today it was determined that the total amount she made through her crime was £305,952.

If Ashbridge had possessed assets a court order would have been made to seize them to repay the cash.

Prosecutor Neil Jones said: "She has no available amount to satisfy the order.

"There is absolutely, definitively no available sum."

As a result of her having no available cash or assets she was not ordered to pay any money back. 

Her husband Robert Ashbridge, now 45, of the same address, who worked as a chef at a care home, admitted one fraud charge, relating to £182,000 of the fake claims but prosecutors said he also "encouraged" his wife's outrageous dishonesty.

He was given a suspended jail term at the last hearing and The Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was adjourned in relation to him until September.

The court heard the fraudulent claims were made for 18 children, both real and fake and the mum used nine bank accounts to facilitate the fraud, which she was in control of.

When passing sentence, Miss Recorder Caroline Sellars said the married mum's dishonesty was exposed after she got "greedy" and she was sentenced to two years and four months behind bars.

The husband's prison sentence of 18 months was suspended for two years, with rehabilitation requirements.

The court heard at the last hearing the mum, who was dismissed by HMRC, felt like a "weight had been lifted" when her scam was uncovered and that she suffers from physical and mental health problems.

At the same hearing it was heard the husband had not appreciated the full extent of his wife's activities.

A HMRC spokesperson said at the time of sentencing in 2023: “We welcome the prison sentence handed down to Tracy Ashbridge who abused her position of trust and responsibility. By stealing from taxpayers Ashbridge also stole from public services used by us all.

“HMRC is committed to the highest level of integrity, and we take the strongest possible action against the tiny minority who let us all down by falling short of those standards.

“We encourage anyone with information about tax fraud to report it online.”