Benefit cheat mother invented seven children in just 18 months

A woman created seven bogus children, claiming to have had them all in just 18 months, as she falsely collected more than £40,000 in benefits.

Victoria Young, 25, gave the bogus babies names and dates of birth claiming to have had quads Kier, Kie, Kyla and Conrad on January 30, 2005.

These were followed by a fifth child, Kacey, a mere eight months later on September 21 and within a week of that - on September 27 - Kelsey was born.



She later rang the tax credit helpline asking for cash to help with child care and other costs to look after baby number seven - Jake - who she claimed had been born just 10 months later in July last year.

But when benefits investigators went looking for her huge family they found just one little boy at her home in Lancaster Road, Irlam - and he wasn't one of the seven children she said she had.

Young was arrested last December but investigators were unable to interview her formally until March this year because she was pregnant with her second child. Yesterday, she appeared at Manchester Crown Court, to plead guilty to 10 out of 11 benefit fraud charges relating to the imaginary children. The case was adjourned until December 5 to allow pre-sentence reports to be compiled before sentence.