Ruth Munro's mother Margaret McPartlin died in September 1993, aged 73, but she claimed she was so upset she couldn't bring herself to tell pension administrators paid her £18,000
Ruth Munro's mother Margaret McPartlin died in September 1993, aged 73 - but she claimed she was so upset she could not bring herself to tell pension administrators.
They went on paying her widow's stipend for more than 20 years - and Ms Munro went on collecting it.
Eventually she netted more than £18,000 in total before she was rumbled.
But she was spared jail today after a sheriff told her that just being prosecuted was punishment enough - and that she should have received better bereavement counselling.
The court had also heard that the money had since been repaid.
Alloa Sheriff Court heard that Mrs McPartlin was the beneficiary of two small widow's pensions, resulting from her late husband's employment with the British Steel Corporation and drinks giant Diaego, which owns a series of Scottish distilleries.
Forms purportedly signed by her dead mum were returned, and Munro allowed allowed the pensions company to believe Mrs McPartlin was still alive.
Ruairidh Ferguson, prosecuting, said: "The offence involved the accused representing to the administrators of her late mothers' pension that her late mother was still alive and still receiving the pension even though her mother was dead in 1993.
"The amount received was £18,577.81, and that has been repaid in full to the pension companies involved.
"The offence came to light when the pensions company itself made a check on the Register of Deaths and discovered that the intended beneficiary had been deceased for a number of years."
Munro was interviewed in October 2015 and was "candid throughout the process", the depute fiscal added.
Munro, of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, now herself a 67-year-old pensioner but still a carer for a grown up son said to have "severe mental health difficulties", pleaded guilty to defrauding the pension schemes out of £18,577 by inducing them to continue to make payments in the belief that Mrs McPartlin was still alive.
Defence solicitor Harry Couchlin said that it had been "a bizarre and peculiar offence".
He said: "These are sums she should never have received, but she caused and allowed them to be received, for reasons she can't understand, and having started, she couldn't get herself out of the situation.
"The unusual feature of the situation is that the money wasn't spent, it was retained and it was returned.
"I realise that in many circumstances given the level of the fraud, custody would be at the forefront of the court's consideration."
Sheriff David Mackie interrupted, "That's not in contemplation."
Turning to Munro, the sheriff said: "This is unusual. At the age of 67 you find yourself before the court for the first time, and I suspect the last, in your life.
"On the face of it, this is a serious matter because it involves a sum of money in excess of £18,000, but what is unusual is that every single penny has been repaid.
"In fact, you never touched the money, because it sat in your late mother's account throughout the time it was paid to you.
"It makes me wonder that if you'd had more support through your bereavement, this would not have happened - I don't know."
The sheriff added: "In considering disposals, the court has to have regard to what lawyers call retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation.
"In this case there's little call for retribution - you're not somebody who needs to be punished for this - and this case is so unusual there's no question of imposing any kind of sentence that would act as a deterrent to anybody else."
He said background reports revealed "absolutely no risk" to Munro offending again in anyway.
He said: "You present no risk whatsoever to the public.
"It's enough that you've been put through the process of prosecution. I'll draw a line under this matter today - you're admonished."
Outside court, Munro, who was accompanied by her elderly husband, wiped tears of relief from her eyes.
She told a reporter: "I'd rather not say anything, thanks."
Culled from Mirror
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