A ‘brazen’ grandmother who concocted an elaborate scheme to claim $51,760.46 in Centrelink benefits for a child who did not exist has been sentenced.

Mother of eight Athena Murray, 63, pleaded guilty to two charges relating to obtaining a financial advantage by deception and making false statements to Medicare between 2009 and 2017.

The Tasmanian Supreme Court heard that Murray informed Centrelink in March 2009 that she would be giving birth in two weeks’ time.

She later registered the birth of a baby girl named Hayley at her Sheffield home in the state’s north-west on March 26, 2009, so that she could claim the Family Tax Benefit and Baby Bonus.

The fake infant shared the same first and middle names, and birthday, as a daughter of Murray’s then-partner, as they would be easy to recall if questions were asked, the judge found.

The court heard that Murray added the child to her Medicare card and later listed the child as living with her on her Newstart claim.

The eight-year scam continued until 2017, when the Department of Human Services launched a review into Murray’s entitlements following a tip-off from a member of the public.

Photos on Murray’s Instagram after the scam was uncovered show her living the high life – enjoying scallops at a fancy restaurant, drinking white wine in a hotel pool and enjoying a lavish holiday on the expensive Lord Howe Island.

Investigators found no record of any Medicare claims being made for Hayley, prompting Australian Federal Police officers to execute a search warrant at Murray’s North Queensland home.

Mother-of eight Athena Murray has been jailed for claiming more than $50,000 in Centrelink benefits for a child that did not exist

The Tasmanian grandmother pleaded guilty to two charges relating to obtaining a financial advantage by deception and making false statements to Medicare between 2009 and 2017

The court heard that Murray later contacted Centrelink to claim she had given birth to a stillborn ‘dead baby’ in 2009 but had not registered the death.

‘In my mind I was just trying to keep her alive,’ she told Centrelink.

Murray then lodged a form with Births, Deaths and Marriages Tasmania indicating that she had lost the baby at 23 weeks, which contradicted the full-term birth initially registered in 2009 to claim the welfare payments.

Murray was eventually charged and extradited to Tasmania in 2023.

Murray previously told the court that, after she buried the foetus in her Sheffield backyard following the stillbirth in 2009, she was pressured by her then-partner to register the child with Centrelink as a living dependent. Her former partner died in 2019.

Justice Kate Cuthbertson was satisfied ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that Murray faked the pregnancy, noting that she took significant steps to ‘obtain payments for a non-existent child’.

‘The evidence that has been given about the decision to name the child Hayley is frankly unbelievable and inconsistent,’ she said in findings published online.

‘The evidence you gave about the pregnancy and birth was internally inconsistent as well as inconsistent with other evidence.’

Athena Murray was living in North Queensland when the eight-year scam was unearthed in 2027

The court heard that Athena Murray faked the pregnancy and birth so that she could claim the Family Tax Benefit and Baby Bonus benefits (stock image)

‘You presented as fundamentally dishonest. I ultimately concluded that I could not accept any aspect of your evidence unless it was corroborated by objective and credible evidence.’

Justice Kate Cuthbertson also noted that Murray involved her eldest daughter in the ‘aggravating’ offending by making her sign a statutory declaration in 2009 that she had helped with the birth.

The daughter testified in court against her mother and acknowledged her involvement in signing the false statutory declaration.

She also recalled a phone conversation with her mother following the 2017 raid where Murray admitted to having ‘made up a fake child’.

‘The evidence tends to suggest that this offending was based on greed rather than need,’ Justice Cuthbertson added.

The judge described Murray’s actions as ‘prolonged, brazen and sophisticated’, noting prior dishonesty and stealing offences.

She also ruled that Murray showed ‘no genuine remorse’ for her actions.

‘The crimes on the indictment are, as I have already observed, serious examples of their kind,’ Justice Cuthbertson said.

‘They have their analogy with frauds on the social security system effected by use of false identities.’

Sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment, Murray will be released after  12 months on a $5000 surety and three-year good behaviour bond.

She was also ordered to pay back $33,342.30 to the Commonwealth.

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