Man posed in bed as 110-year-old relative in wife's 28-year fraud over late father-in-law's pension

The fraud was only detected after a Cork-based researcher had checked out the background of a 110-year-old male in receipt of the State pension

Margaret Bergin (73) a married mother of three of Fairfield House, Mountrath, Co Laois, pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of theft and five sample counts of larceny. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

A woman who falsely claimed the pension of her dead father-in-law for almost 30 years got her husband to get into bed and pretend to be her 110-year-old relative when Department of Social Protection officials called to her home, a court has heard.

A sitting of Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court heard how the Laois woman defrauded the State of over €270,000 in what a judge described as “an extraordinary case”. The offences were only detected after a Cork-based researcher had checked out the background of a 110-year-old male in receipt of the State pension.