A FRAUDSTER was given only three months in jail because the judge did not want to put her children in care.
Gulay Altinsoy, of Copperfield, Chigwell, lied about owning a house in Forest Gate while claiming housing benefit to live in Chigwell.
Epping Forest District Council say they would have not given her a council house if they had known.
Altinsoy, who originally pleaded not guilty before changing her mind, escaped with a light punishment, because being jailed for 15 months would mean her children would go into care and “add more pressure to the state.”
Instead, she was sentenced to 15 months suspended for a year.
The council is now planning to repossess the house.
The mother was previously prosecuted for fraud in 2015, being fined more than £1,000 and given a four month suspended prison sentence.
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