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A woman with a second home in a top tourist location fiddled nearly £60,000 in benefits.
Sharon Berkley admitted fraudulently claiming Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit over an eight year period benefitting £57,490 in taxpayers’ money.
She lived in her house in Southampton but failed to tell the Department of Work and Pensions that she had a second house in Porthtowan, Cornwall, which she rented out for £600 a month.
Berkley, who claimed that she was unfit to work due to physical ailments, was also revealed to have been renting out a property at Ocean Court in Truro, as well as a room in her home for £100 per week.
A judge said 56-year-old Berkley, now living in temporary accommodation in Redruth, Cornwall, deliberately failed to tell the authorities about her second seaside property and stated that she had no further income in numerous declarations.
Sharon Berkley (pictured) admitted fraudulently claiming Employment Support Allowance and Universal Credit over an eight year period benefitting £57,490 in taxpayers’ money
The fraudster is also currently taking proceedings against her tenants living in her Porthtowan for unpaid rent, according to CornwallLive.
The judge was told Berkley that the Cornish property was worth £90,000 – with £50,000 equity in it – and said a confiscation hearing would be held in June so that she could pay back her ill-gotten gains.
Prosecutor Lisa Denley described how Berkley swindled the state for employment and support allowance, receiving an overpayment of £16,197.85 between December 2014 and July 2017.
Then, between August 2017 and May 2022, she was paid £41,292 through Universal Credit, with the full amount of the fraudulent claims paid out by the taxpayer reaching a whopping £57,490.16.
Berkley was living in Southampton at the time of the investigation, which unveiled her small property empire, including a a property in Truro which she had purchased in October 2003 before renting it out.
The fraudster was found to have been pocketing £495pm in rent 2017, which was increased to £600pm in 2022.
The judge added that wealthy people who own second holiday homes in Cornwall cause angst among locals.
She lived in her house in Southampton but failed to tell the Department of Work and Pensions that she had a second house in Porthtowan, Cornwall (pictured)
The case was heard at Truro Crown Court in Cornwall (pictured)
He said from the outset Berkley hid the fact of her second home because she knew she would not be entitled to any state handouts but her defence lawyer said she was not living a lavish lifestyle.
Berkley claimed she was unable to work because she suffered from various physical ailments as well as ADHD and Aspergers – but had no medical, evidence to back this up and the judge said he was not going to take the word of a convicted fraudster.
Recorder James Bromige said her actions were ‘borne not out of desperation but borne out of greed by you’.
He told Truro Crown Court: ‘You have effectively stolen £57,000 from the taxpayer.’
He jailed her for 16 months, suspended for two years, saying that locking her up immediately would be a further drain on the State and the taxpayer.
Local residents have long lamented how second-home owners have ripped up the soul of their close-knit seaside towns, leaving them empty in the winter after clogging up the tourist hotspots in the summer.
Ross Duncan, 33, who has lived in St Ives most of his life and manages the Cornish Bakehouse, exclusively revealed to the Mail the stark financial contrast for businesses and workers during the winter.
He said: ‘I don’t blame second home owners, for every second home there is a Cornish family who have sold it for a huge profit – nobody forced them to.
‘But you can’t deny it’s having an effect, particularly on the younger generation who can’t afford somewhere to live in town. Of our 12 staff only five live here.
‘It’s been this way for so long it’s just about manageable for people.’
This comes as at a time when local authorities in the area and at other holiday hotspots around the UK are already adopting measures including council tax premiums to curb second home ownership as locals are being priced out of the market.
The new tax on dwellings being used as holiday homes is set to bring in millions of pounds for county councils and unitary authorities.
Cornwall Council has also launched several initiatives and policies in a bid to clampdown on second-hone owners, who have become a scourge for many local residents in the seaside town.
Salcombe in Devon is among the most popular places in the UK for second home owners
Boats in the harbour at Padstow in Cornwall, which is a popular place for second homes
Last September, the local authority agreed to sell Grade II listed flats worth £640,000 for £1 to block second homeowners and ensure affordable housing for locals.
The council’s cabinet approved a recommendation to release the 11 Coastguard Flats on North Road in Looe – a picturesque fishing village – to a community land trust to avoid costly maintenance.
Three Seas Community Land Trust offered to carry out a £1million refurbishment through grant funding.
In May 2022, the Government published the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which would allow local authorities to a introduce a new discretionary council tax premium on second homes of up to 100 per cent.
The bill which received royal assent in October 2023, will now allow Cornwall Council to apply the additional council tax premium for second home owners from April 2025.
The council’s cabinet approved a recommendation to release the 11 Coastguard Flats in Looe to a community land trust to avoid costly maintenance
Councillors said the deal meant it would remain as affordable housing in the picturesque fishing village, which has a population of 5,280
In April last year, Leveling-Up Secretary Michael Gove said: ‘Tourism brings many benefits to our economy but in too many communities we have seen local people pushed out of cherished towns, cities and villages by huge numbers of short-term lets.
‘I’m determined that we ensure that more people have access to local homes at affordable prices, and that we prioritise families desperate to rent or buy a home of their own close to where they work.’
Owners of holiday lets in the affluent town of Burnham Market, Norfolk, are to be sent begging letters by the parish council asking for donations.
Around 200 people with houses in the popular seaside tourist destination, dubbed ‘Chelsea on Sea’, will be approached in about gifting around £100-a-year to council coffers.
An overwhelming majority of 80 per cent of villagers backed a crackdown on second and holiday homes in a referendum last September.
Wealthy Londoners flock to Burnham Market to stay in weekend homes or holiday rentals, eager to take advantage of the nearby unspoiled countryside – but its popularity has led to a backlash from locals
The influx out of outsiders, in the town dubbed Chelsea on Sea, has seen house prices soar, leaving locals unable to afford homes in the area and key workers having to commute from surrounding villages
But, there are fears that plans to double council tax on the properties won’t necessarily benefit the areas affected.
Communities directly affected by the phenomenon – which have complained of being turned into ‘ghost towns’ as soaring house prices force out locals – will receive little or no direct funding.
Dorset Council, which is on the verge of approving the swingeing tax increases to tackle problems in Swanage and Purbeck, is planning to allocate the £10million it is expected to raise to its ‘overall budget’.
Meanwhile, West Norfolk Council, which is also close to approving the charge, would receive less than 7 per cent of the £6.5million it will generate. More than three-quarters would go to the county council.
Other measures being introduced at popular holiday destinations include bans on newbuild properties to people using them as second homes and developers having to show there will be no detrimental impact on communities, such as noise and parking problems.
Referendums on the crackdowns have had 90 per cent support from voters in some areas.
