. Douglas Courthouse heard she had also claimed £31,000 in income support while earning thousands giving horse lessons. Megson was previously jailed for cruelty to animals. Documentation making applications for charitable funds and online information soliciting charitable donations featured the genuine official number of a charity she had been a trustee of in 2012, which had been set up to help Romanian orphans, the court heard. As well as online donations, she managed to secure a £1,000 donation from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme in 2017, which allows shoppers to choose a charity to receive funds. On one occasion she also used the registered charity number of a sailing club on the island to make an application for funds, the court heard. MEL had been registered as company in 2012, with Megson and her son as directors, but was never registered as a charity. Subsequent website and social media posts between 2013 and 2019 claimed it was a not-for-profit organisation, offering therapy through horse riding. The court was told Megson was pocketing the proceeds of private horse riding lessons she was giving while also receiving £31,366 in income support between 2017 and 2021 after telling the authorities she was a single mother who was too ill to work. Investigations showed MEL had a bank account which had had more than £100,000 deposited into it, which she had spent on a "lavish lifestyle". Megson had been jailed for 20 weeks in August last year for cruelty to animals offences. The court heard the 62-year-old, who had been representing herself, had been remanded in custody on the second day of her trial in June for the new offences, a){kind=link}
A woman who lied about her firm being a charity and fraudulently claimed benefits has been jailed for three years and three months.
Wendy Megson, 62, used the registered charity number of another not-for-profit group to solicit donations to Manx Equitherapy Limited (MEL).
Douglas Courthouse heard she had also claimed £31,000 in income support while earning thousands giving horse lessons.
Megson was previously jailed for cruelty to animals.
Documentation making applications for charitable funds and online information soliciting charitable donations featured the genuine official number of a charity she had been a trustee of in 2012, which had been set up to help Romanian orphans, the court heard.