UK’s ‘worst benefits cheat’ who swindled £750k by hiding her war hero dad’s death & faking dementia is FREED from jail
A SCROUNGER branded “Britain’s worst benefits cheat” after hiding her dad’s death to swindle £750,000 has been freed from jail.
Ethel McGill, 72, also used her skills as an amateur actress to fake having dementia so she could rake in disability allowance.
The callous pensioner also pretended her dad was still alive so she could steal his war pension after his death in 2004.
Her feckless 20-year rampage finally came to an end when investigators caught her walking around and driving after claiming she was confined to a wheelchair.
McGill was jailed for five years and eight months in July 2019 – with a further eight months added on the following year for failing to pay back her ill-gotten gains.
But the OAP, from Runcorn in Cheshire, was released from prison in the “second half of 2022” after serving less than half her sentence, Mail Online reports.
McGill’s shameless scrounging was revealed at her sentencing hearing where she was dubbed one of the UK’s biggest benefits cheats.
She went to extreme lengths to continue stealing from the taxpayer following dad Robert Dennison’s death.
For 12 years, McGill claimed he was still alive and even got a pal to hide under a blanket and pretend to be him.
She also feigned dementia and mobility for more than 20 years to line her pockets using money from the public purse.
McGill, who hid her face in a packet of incontinence pads as she arrived at court, was ordered in August 2020 to repay £200,500 at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
She was handed a further eight months in jail after failing to cough up within the 12-week deadline.
Sentencing her at the time, Judge Steven Everett told McGill: “Part of your problem is that nobody, including me, believes that you are ill, and that you have been putting this on for years.
“Your devious behaviour, with very little remorse, has caught up with you and now you will have to pay the penalty.
“With breathtaking dishonesty you decided to use your father’s death to your financial benefit, what a terrible thing to do.”