Stole more than 270 thousand euros: a woman outwitted the law and fraudulently received the pension of a deceased relative (3 photos)

The court found that the woman had been receiving payments from her deceased father-in-law for 28 years, and gave her husband away in his place.





A woman fraudulently received her deceased father-in-law's pension for almost 30 years. To do this, she forced her husband to lie in bed and pretend to be her 110-year-old relative when the inspectors came to her house.

A woman stole more than €270,000 from the government in what a judge described as an "extraordinary incident" was heard at Portlaoise District Criminal Court.



The crimes were only discovered after a Cork law enforcement officer checked the background of the 110-year-old man, who receives a state pension.

Margaret Bergin, a married mother of three, pleaded guilty to theft of funds.

Over the course of 28 and a half years, she managed to steal 271,046 euros.

The fraudster claimed her father-in-law John Bergin's state pension after his death in November 1993.