Sunderland couple who pretended to have 18 kids in £300,000 benefit fraud must pay back only £2

"Greedy" 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 claimants' details to get her hands on money.

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

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

The mum-of-four, who earned 11k-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.

She tried to pocket a total of £434,128 and admitted six charges of fraud.

During a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Newcastle Crown Court in July it was determined that the total amount she made through her crime was £305,952 but after an investigation revealed she had no assets she was ordered to pay back just £1.

At a further hearing this morning her husband, 45, was found to have made £22,385 through his role in the scam but the court heard he also has no assets and he was ordered to pay the same sum of £1 or face seven days in jail.

The husband, who worked as a chef at a care home, had admitted one fraud charge but prosecutors said he also "encouraged" his wife's outrageous dishonesty.

The couple, of Plough Road, Sunderland, could still be ordered to pay back the money they made through crime if they come into any future windfall.

A total of £7,614 seized from their home when they were arrested, made up of American dollars and euros, was forfeited at today's hearing.

Judge Gavin Doig told the husband: "I declare the benefit figure to be £22,385.21 and the available amount is £1. The confiscation order is in the sum of £1, with seven days imprisonment in default.

"Mr Ashbridge has seven days to pay that sum.

"I order forfeiture of all cash found on March 6 2019 at the defendants' home address."

Judge Doig told Ashbridge at the end of the hearing: "I sincerely hope I don't see you again."

When passing sentence last year, 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 sentence hearing the mum, who was dismissed by HMRC, felt like a "weight had been lifted" when her fraud was uncovered and that she suffers from physical and mental health problems.

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