Gold-digger grandma steals $300,000 from Centrelink
A grandmother from Geelong in Victoria has admitted to the crime of stealing close to $300,000 in taxpayers' money in the hopes to secure her dead partner's multi-million-dollar assets.
76-year-old Noel Newling was proven guilty after discovering she had been giving false information to Centrelink regarding her relationship status.
Since 1997, Newling had accumulated up to $287,000 from taxpayers while she was in a relationship with a wealthy man.
Newling had no intention to admit to the crime, but after her deceased partner's will stated to give the majority of his $4 million assets to charity, Newling had no other choice as she hoped to overturn the legal document, reports A Current Affair.
The government was under the impression that Newling had been single for the past decade, but the truth was far from it.
The 76-year-old had been in a relationship with a man named Michael Stansfield, who happened to have accumulated quite a bit of money throughout his years.
Mr Stansfield was a share trader and passed away in 2016. Newling’s late partner left her with $50,000, a $185,000 property and a $34,000 car.
He then proceeded to distribute the rest of his wealth to different charities.
Newling claims she was unaware of Mr Stansfield wealth, but once his earnings came to light, she attempted to challenge the will to obtain the money for herself.
In order to do that, Newling had to admit to fraudulent behaviour in the Geelong County Court, otherwise her chance of acquiring the money was close to zero.
The Geelong Advertiser reported that, Judge Susan Cohen issued a sentence for Newling, and gave her two years and 10 months in prison but would be released in four months with a two-and-a-half-year good behaviour bond.
Newling was faced with an influx of reporters outside court, where she said that she knew that her behaviour was wrong but gave the excuse that she “had to live".
She has now been asked to repay the government for all the money she has taken over the years, something that Newling says can only be paid back once she has her late partner's estate.