A Derby benefits cheat who spent more than two years living in Greece while fraudulently claiming over £14,000 in disability payments has walked free from court after her five-month jail term was suspended.
Dawna Bird, 66, from Alvaston, admitted fraud by failing to disclose information on the first day of her trial at Derby Crown Court – but only after the prosecution said the evidence against her was “pretty overwhelming”.
“Dawna Bird, 66, admitted fraudulently claiming over £14,000 in PIP while living in Greece for more than two years.”
The court heard that Bird began claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) in February 2019 and was told she must notify the Department for Work and Pensions if she left the UK for more than 28 days. Instead, between 2019 and 2023 she spent more than 1,000 days living in Greece – even advertising her services as a childminder on Facebook while abroad.
Prosecutor Stefan Fox said screenshots from Bird’s Facebook account showed her talking about plans to move abroad and posting that she was in Greece, advertising childminding. She returned to the UK in August 2023 and was invited to a voluntary interview, where she denied living abroad.
Bird’s husband, Harry Bird, had already been sentenced for fraudulently claiming around £70,000 in extra benefit payments, receiving a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Imposing Bird’s five-month custodial sentence, suspended for one year, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “The evidence was pretty overwhelming and in the end you have seen sense. You are now paying the money back in smaller amounts.”
Bird’s barrister, Dan Scothern, said: “The claim was initially legitimate and Mrs Bird is now having the funds removed at source to repay the sum.”
A previous criminal record, including convictions for theft and handling stolen goods dating back to the 1980s, was also revealed in court.