Lifestyle

Couple caught faking single parent status to scam over £50k in benefits face courtroom reckoning

Published on July 10, 2025

A couple who pretended to be single parents to pocket over £50,000 in benefits they weren’t entitled to were finally brought to justice after their own holiday snaps gave them away on social media. Alan Forsythe, 37, and his wife Jemma, 36, thought they could pull the wool over the DWP’s eyes while living together at their family home in Blackpool with their two children, plus Jemma’s two older kids from a previous relationship.

Back in February 2019, Alan started claiming Universal Credit, saying he was living alone in a flat in town. He kept that going until October that year, then came back for round two in January 2022, this time claiming to be a single dad. That falsehood lasted until July 2023, and during that time he managed to swindle £3,182.27, according to Lancs Live.

Jemma, who’s since gone back to using her maiden name, O’Malley, made her own dodgy claim in June 2020. She told the DWP she was living alone with her four children, conveniently leaving out the bit about her husband being not only present but also working full time. She stuck to that story for three years and fraudulently claimed a whopping £49,007.91 in benefits.

Both had signed declarations saying all the information they provided was accurate and that they’d update the DWP about any changes. But that didn’t happen. To make matters worse, Jemma already had a previous conviction from 2014 for not informing the DWP of a change in circumstances.

It all started to unravel when investigators at the DWP dug into their social media and saw happy holiday pictures showing the couple together. That triggered a deeper dive into their financial records, credit files and more. In June 2023, both were invited for interviews. Alan told the Jobcentre he was crashing on sofas after splitting with Jemma. Just days later, Jemma showed up telling the same story – that they’d separated but weren’t yet divorced.

But the story didn’t end there. Alan was already in prison for a brutal assault in 2024 that left a man with life-changing injuries. He appeared at Preston Crown Court via video link to face the fraud charges. His lawyer, Anthony Parkinson, acknowledged prison was inevitable but worried what would happen to the children if their mum also ended up behind bars.

Jemma’s barrister, Kira Unsworth, argued that her client was trying to sort out her life, working as a care assistant, facing up to her debts, and had started divorce proceedings.

When sentencing, Recorder Ayesha Siddiqi made it clear the court took the offence seriously. “You were both involved in providing false information to the DWP which affected the benefits you were entitled to. You were a married couple and resided together in your family home,” she told them.

Alan was given an additional 15 weeks on top of his current sentence. But when it came to Jemma, the judge took a different approach, pointing out the importance of their children’s welfare. “If it wasn’t for those children I would be sending you to prison right now. Because of those children I am going to suspend the sentence,” she said.

Jemma was handed a 21-month sentence, suspended for two years, with 10 days of rehabilitation activity and a six-month curfew from 9pm to 7am.

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