Other News In Brief

Woman Convicted Of Benefit Fraud

A woman has been convicted for claiming benefits she was not entitled to at Antrim Crown Court.

Kelly Ann Wilson claimed Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit totalling £33,052 while failing to declare she was living with her partner. She was given a six month prison sentence suspended for one year.

She is also required to repay any outstanding money wrongfully obtained to the Social Security Agency.

New Storm Sewer To Be Developed In Co L'Derry

Contractor BSG Engineering is working in partnership with NI Water to start work on a new storm sewer project in Co L'Derry.

The work, to provide a storm sewer for a new housing development in the Limavady Road area, will begin on 18 April and is expected to take around eight weeks to complete.

It involves the laying of approximately 259 metres of storm sewer and associated manholes.

The road will be closed, however diversions will be put in place.

Unionists Need To Show Leadership - Alliance

Alliance North Belfast Councillor Nuala McAllister has said local unionist parties need to show leadership and help bring the Twaddell Avenue loyalist protest camp to an end after it was revealed it had cost the taxpayer more than £18 million to police to date.

Councillor McAllister said the DUP and UUP's support of the camp, which has now been in existence for 1,000 days, was helping sustain it and draining crucial funds from the public purse which could be spent on various other services.

"The figure of £18 million is both stunning and horrifying," she said.

"That money could easily be spent on tackling the dissident threat or putting resources into community policing. Those parties such as the DUP and UUP who continue to express support for the camp need to take a serious look at themselves. How can they still give backing to something which is effectively a massive black hole in our already precarious public finances?"

(CD)