A benefits fraudster has admitted to pocketing over £7,000 in council tax support while going on exotic family holidays to Greece and Spain.
Brygida Kuczkowska, 50, claimed to be the sole adult occupant of her home on Guildford Way in Thetford, in order to have a reduction on her bills.
She wrongfully accepted the low-income council tax support by not disclosing that her partner at the time, Krystian Goralski, was living at the property.
Goralski was also in full-time employment throughout his stay at the property.
He even set up a fake property on Changi Road in Watton, in order to keep the lie up.
Kuczkowska, who has been living in the UK since 2005, told the local council she was earning less than £200 per week and was living by herself.
Instead, the pair were living together, with their two children, had an income and used the fraudulent extra income from taxpayers pockets to fund extravagant family trips to Greece and Spain.
Brygida Kuczkowska, 50, lied, claiming to be the sole adult occupant of her home in on Guildford Way in Thetford, in order to have a reduction on her bills
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Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard the scam came crumbling down after the National Fraud Initiative flagged up that more than one adult was living at the Thetford property.
Further financial checks during a council investigation revealed bank accounts, employment records and two holiday bookings – in 2020 and 2023 – that linked Goralski to the address, prosecutors said.
While Goralski had been questioned on his stay at the property before, Kuczkowska lied and continued to tell the council he was “only a friend” who resided elsewhere.
The property was located on Guildford Way in Thetford
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Kuczkowska pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and a third charge of failing to disclose to the council that she was not a sole occupant.
The court heard that she claimed £7,198 dishonestly between March 2019 and November 2024.
She has since paid the overpayments off in full.
The court also ordered her to pay fines totalling £550.
Harsher punishment, due to her personal circumstances and the age of the offences, was ruled out.
Anthony Nowacki, mitigating, explained that Kuczkowska had worked as a nurse until 2015, but following a car accident, was now in a wheelchair.
“She is extremely sorry for her actions and accepts she made a mistake,” he said.