Reality TV star jailed for £25,000 benefit fraud

Reality Star, Chelsey Harwood, has been charged with benefit fraud to the amount of £25,156 after falsely claiming employment support and housing benefits over a three-year period.

Harwood found fame in the 2014 reality TV show This is Liverpool and went on to become a glamour model. She is also a prominent figure in the transgender community, regularly commenting on the multiple procedures and plastic surgeries that she has undertaken to aid in her transition to become a woman. Harwood has also appeared on MTV’s Celebrity Botched Bodies in which she revealed that these procedures had, in fact, had a negative impact on her life.

In an interview for a glossy magazine, Harwood claimed to have earned £120,000 as a webcam girl, but the judge presiding over her case noted that she failed to declare any form of self-employed income earned between April 2013 and January 2016.

Harwood is also believed to have received substantial amounts of money from a “sugar daddy”. She claimed, however, that this was sporadic rather than large amounts in one lump sum.

The prosecution in the case did not say how much Harwood was earning at the time, but did state that she had “a measure of celebrity and was writing articles for Closer magazine”.

The defence responded by stating that any payments relating to work with the media over the time period stated were “relatively modest” and that Hardwood was “remorseful and shameful of her actions”.

The 29-year-old from St Helens pleaded guilty to three benefit fraud offences in April 2017.

The Ruling

Reading his remarks, Judge Andrew Menary QC claimed that Harwood had “bragged” about her earnings, publically discussing her payments and gifts over social media throughout the time period outlined, and still failed to declare this appropriately for taxation.

Speaking directly to Harwood, Menary stated that he recognised that her “gender issues have complicated your life to this point and created great challenges in the past and the unhealthy celebrity-type lifestyle you have sought to create, or courted online, means you have been living in a fantasy world.”

The judge ruled that Harwood would serve a 4-month prison sentence, which would be suspended for 2 years. She would also have to complete 100 hours of community service and be tagged, with a curfew for 2 months.

Failure to Comply

Harwood was later jailed for refusing to comply with the terms of her community service, having only turned up for an hour of the required time. The judge ruled that Harwood failed to meet with probation officers to make alternative arrangements, and refused to travel the 25 miles to another community service facility, and therefore supplied her with a 3-month jail sentence. Harwood was released 2-months early from this sentence in August 2017.

If you have been accused of benefit fraud, have been asked to attend an interview under caution, or are subject to a benefit fraud prosecution, we can help. We have over 20 years of experience in dealing with all types of benefit fraud cases. Our dedicated team are experts in the field of benefit fraud and can even supply training for the Citizens Advice Bureau and other advice agencies in this specialised area of law.