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| Deal or No Deal winner Caroline Banana sentenced for fraud | Deal or No Deal winner Caroline Banana sentenced for fraud |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A woman who won £95,000 on the TV show Deal or No Deal has been ordered to carry out 215 hours of unpaid work after admitting benefit fraud. | A woman who won £95,000 on the TV show Deal or No Deal has been ordered to carry out 215 hours of unpaid work after admitting benefit fraud. |
| Caroline Banana, 40, from Stoke-on-Trent, had admitted wrongly receiving more than £6,100 in housing and council tax benefits and income support. | Caroline Banana, 40, from Stoke-on-Trent, had admitted wrongly receiving more than £6,100 in housing and council tax benefits and income support. |
| Banana failed to declare her winnings from the Channel 4 game show and did not disclose that she had found work. | Banana failed to declare her winnings from the Channel 4 game show and did not disclose that she had found work. |
| She received a 12-month community order at North Staffordshire Justice Centre. | She received a 12-month community order at North Staffordshire Justice Centre. |
| Banana, who had found work including jobs at a chemists, hospital and doctors' surgery, falsely claimed the benefits between 28 March 2011 and 13 May 2012. | |
| She also admitting falsely claiming free school meal allowances. | She also admitting falsely claiming free school meal allowances. |
| Banana, of Whitridge Grove, Bentilee, failed to declare her windfall from November 2011 to Stoke City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions. | Banana, of Whitridge Grove, Bentilee, failed to declare her windfall from November 2011 to Stoke City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions. |
| 'Deliberate cover-up' | |
| Sentencing her, District Judge David Taylor told Banana she had "brought upon yourself" the large amount of media attention the case had attracted across the world. | |
| He said "any honest person" would have reported the game show winnings soon after receiving them and said he believed Banana's behaviour amounted "to a deliberate cover-up". | |
| "Any offence of benefit fraud is never victimless," the judge said. | |
| "It harms every member of society who works and pays tax with the misfortune of having to claim benefit." | |
| The judge said Banana had only pleaded guilty just before her trial last week and so only gave her "minimum credit" for that plea. | |
| Banana was also ordered to repay £2,517 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and £3,794 to Stoke-on-Trent City Council. | |
| She was also ordered to pay £350 in costs to the court. | |
| By law, benefit claimants must inform the DWP if their bank balance exceeds £16,000, either due to a windfall or inheritance. |