Herne Bay clairvoyant Christina Green avoids jail after claiming up to £114,000 in benefits
Published: 00:01, 12 November 2013
When Herne Bay medium Christina Green sat in a courtroom dock crying, perhaps she foresaw her fate for committing benefit fraud and feared a spell behind bars awaited her.
But her possible prediction failed to come true... and the 56-year-old was spared an immediate prison sentence.
Green, of Cross Street, had been convicted last month by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court on a 10-2 majority of falsely claiming more than £114,000 in income support, jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit over eight years.
She denied obtaining money transfers by deception between April 2002 and June 2010, three offences of evasion of liability by deception between March 2002 and June 2010, and one of fraud between November 2008 and November 2010.
The prosecution alleged that Green failed to declare she owned a property at 94 Woodrow Chase in Herne Bay and as a result obtained income support and exemption from paying council tax and rent on two properties.
However, Green claimed the property belonged to her ex husband and she had no financial interest in it.
Green, who has her own website called Christina Green Clairvoyant and has written a book called 'They're Only a Breath Away', was convicted of all five offences.
Sentencing was adjourned at the end of the trial by Judge Jeremy Carey so that her true share in the house could be ascertained.
However, at the sentencing hearing he said despite that interest in "pounds, shillings and pence" still being far from clear, he was not prepared to further delay legal proceedings.
Judge Carey added that it could not be the case that the mother-of-three would not have been entitled to any benefits.
He said, therefore, that he would sentence Green on the basis that the total benefit overpayment was in the region of £20,000 to £100,000.
But Judge Carey explained it was not through "any sense of mercy" that he had decided not to impose immediate custody, but through "reality and proportionality".
Imposing a jail term of 12 months suspended for 18 months, he told Green "I don't know and cannot reach any sure conclusion as to what the true extent of your fraud is for this reason: Although the jury were satisfied that you acted dishonestly in that you had an interest in the property, the extent of that interest is still not determined and in my judgement would have had an affect on what you would have been entitled to had you been honest in your declarations."
Furthermore, Judge Carey said Green would impose a further burden on the taxpayer if he sent her to prison, and that the impact on her children and her own "precarious" mental state had been taken into account.
As part of her sentence Green must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and attend a specified women's programme activity.
"This sentence I have imposed should not be construed as some kind of charter for any offender... that no one goes to prison even though they defraud the state" - Judge Jeremy Carey
But the judge was keen to point out that while benefit fraud was "serious, extensive and an added burden on the lawful taxpayer", each case had to be sentenced on its own facts.
"This sentence I have imposed should not be construed as some kind of charter for any offender, male or female, that no one goes to prison even though they defraud the state in relation to substantial sums of money.
"Each case must be determined on its own facts and courts do not sentence by rote but by the particular circumstances of each case."
Confiscation proceedings are to be held at a a later date.
Speaking after the sentence, Green said: "I will go to my grave saying I'm innocent.
"I never took any money fraudulently. I've done loads of work for self harm charities - you ask anybody.
"What the DWP says is another thing altogether. Two years of my life has been taken away. It’s made me sick. It’s made me ill."