A Cotswold couple defrauded the public by claiming full State benefits while they were making more than £60,000 from breeding puppies, a court heard on Friday (March 1).

In a two year period, Kelly Nicholls, 30, and Antony Wilkins, 34, of Oakley Court, Kempsford, near Fairford, Gloucestershire, pocketed more than £25,000 worth of benefits that they were not entitled to, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Ehsanul Oarith said that between February 2020 and December 2022 the dog breeding earned the couple £61,885, which would have led to a cut in their benefits if the income had been declared.

The couple, who have two children and a baby on the way, both pleaded guilty to failing to notify the Department of Work and Pensions of a change in their incomes which would have affected their entitlement to Universal Credit.

Nicholls also admitted failing to notify Cotswold District Council of her dog breeding earnings during the same period, thereby receiving more housing benefit than she was entitled to.

Judge Rupert Lowe sentenced her to a £100 fine and £90 surcharge and ordered her to pay £3,500 compensation at the rate of £150 a month.

Wilkins was sentenced to a 12months community order with ten rehabilitation activity days and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

The judge had been told that since the offences came to light the couple have been repaying the authorities at £200 a month.

Mr Oarith told the court that Nicholls had made an application for Universal Credit on February 13, 2020, but did not reveal that she was making money from breeding dogs and selling puppies.

There were several subsequent occasions when she did not declare the puppy income although she had the opportunity to do so, he said.

She declared on June 17, 2020, that she had obtained work as a casual cleaner earning £286, which showed that she knew the process and realised that all income had to be declared, he added.

Enquiries were made and her bank statement was obtained, said Mr Oarith. It showed she was receiving payments for puppies and she admitted that when she was interiewed.

Mr Oarith said the total benefits overpayment was £23,683 from the DWP and £2,083 from the council.

Both Nicholls and Wilkins were of previous good character, he added.

Steven Young, defending them both, said they had entered into an agreement to pay just over £2,000 back to the council at £100 a month each.

He said Wilkins currently has a net income of £1,565 a month from his work as a maintenance man for a hot tub company. He hopes to get extra hours soon so he can earn more, he said.

Nicholls still works as a cleaner earning between £750 and £850 a month but is expecting a baby in May/June, said Mr Young.

"They are both very embarrassed and upset by being in court and they want to pay back as much as possible," he said.

"Mr Wilkins is suffering considerable stress as a result of these proceedings. He suffers from sleep apnea. Now that the case is over it will be an enormous weight off his mind and indeed from Kelly's mind.

"They are a usually a law-abiding couple - they are people who want to work but because they have low income jobs they are entitled to benefits/ They are not backsliders trying to fleece the government of benefits. Quite the opposite I submit."

Passing sentence Judge Lowe said "You are not the sort of people who would go up to an old lady in the street and take her handbag for her money or who would go into a supermarket and steal. Or who would advertise puppies for sale, taking peoples' money and then failing to provide the dog.

"You recognise that such things are stealing other peoples' money. What you don't seem to recognise - or didn't recognise between the Spring of 2020 for two and a half years - is that benefit fraud is also stealing people's money in exactly the same way.

"Where do you think benefits come from? It is not from a magic money tree, to use a well-known expression. The Government doesn't grow money in fields and decide to do with it. It is the taxpayer's money which has been earned by people who work for a living.

"It is handed out to people who are in difficult circumstances by way of benefits on the understanding that they will be honest and not dishonest and not decide that it is just free government money and keep it for themselves, thank you very much. That is stealing, and that is what I have to sentence you both for.

"You both did dog breeding and sold puppies over the pandemic and post pandemic period, making quite a lot of money, over £60,000.

"You no doubt enjoyed earning and no doubt it was perfectly legitimate, but you should have declared it and you did not. You allowed the public to keep paying your living expenses."