Don’t send me to a man’s jail

ON the fiddle... Janet Williams who was overpaid a total of £11,898

Benefit cheating transsexual’s plea to court
A TRANSSEXUAL who admitted cheating £12,000 from the benefits system pleaded with a court: don’t send me to a man’s jail.

Janet Williams failed to declare a string of casual jobs while claiming incapacity benefit.

Oldham magistrates heard that Williams was overpaid a total of £11,898.

The 50-year-old, who represented herself, told the court she was a pre-operative transsexual who had lived as a woman for 31 years.

She said she suffered mental health problems as a result of a pulmonary embolism — a blood clot in the vessels which connect to the lungs — in 2003.

Williams, of Newport Street, Coppice, said she was voluntarily paying the money back.

She asked the court to impose a community sentence rather than sending her to jail — before asking that, if she was imprisoned, it was with women rather than men. Williams had earlier admitted being overpaid £11,898.65 in benefits between April 2004 and July 2007.

She worked casually for seven different companies during that time – without notifying the Department for Work and Pensions.

Williams added: “This is the first time in my benefit history that I acted in an illegal fashion.

“I hope that the court considers that my disturbed behaviour contributes to the offence and I acted while I was psychotic and can only apologise.

“Even though I carried out the offence I am very sorry and can only blame myself for my actions.”

Williams has now voluntarily stopped claiming incapacity benefit. The case was adjourned for probation reports and is due for sentencing on June 14.

Joe Farquhar, chairman of the bench, warned Williams that falsely claiming benefits was ‘always’ a serious crime.