Katona mum faces sentence for fraud

3:29pm Monday 21st July 2008

The mother of reality TV star Kerry Katona is due to be sentenced for wrongly claiming income support and council tax benefit.

Susan Katona, of Dickenson Street, Warrington, Cheshire, was due to be sentenced last month at Runcorn Magistrates Court but sentencing was put back for a pre-sentence report after her solicitor claimed she had a fear of open spaces.

Katona's solicitor John Morris handed a letter from the 48-year-old's GP to the bench on June 9 which said his client had symptoms of agoraphobia - a fear of leaving home and of crowded spaces.

Katona failed to notify the Benefits Office of a change of circumstances between July 2006 and March 2007.

It was alleged the overpayment was made because Katona failed to declare her income from media interviews about her daughter, a winner of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Sentencing will be at Runcorn Magistrates Court.