Scrounger 'mum', 50, faked 17 pregnancies in 24 years by stuffing pillows into her top and claiming £100,000 in maternity pay

A SCROUNGER 'mother' has been jailed after faking 17 pregnancies over 24 years so she could pocket almost £100,000 in maternity pay.

Barbara Ioele, 50, falsely claimed she had five children and 12 miscarriages after stuffing pillows into her top to baby bump.

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Ioele, van Romealso pretended to walk as if she were carrying a child and took up a significant amount of free time.

The woman denies all allegations and continues to claim that her five children exist and that all her pregnancies, including her miscarriages, were real.

Ioele claimed to have given birth to her last child in December, but police said she had been under surveillance for the past nine months and that the entire pregnancy was a sham.

Prosecutors accuse the woman of committing the alleged fraud by stealing birth certificates from a clinic in Rome and other forged documents. Italian paper Il Mattino reports.

She has reportedly been doing this since 2000. Oddity takes center stage added, and as a result managed to collect a whopping £94,000 in benefits.

Davide Pizzinato, Ioele's 55-year-old partner, reportedly inquired Police during an interrogation he knew “very well” that she was never pregnant.

It is believed he testified against her in exchange for a lesser sentence, despite being framed as her partner in the scam.

“She made the [false] certificates and brought them along [to the ASL],” Pizzinato reportedly told investigators.

“This is what I have known since 2012. That is, since the beginning of our relationship.”

Ioele received a prison sentence of one year and six months.

She didn't show up court for questioning, Il Mattino reported.

Her lawyer reportedly showed two certificates, not the one of maternity, which would testify to her precarious condition health.

It comes after a woman was accused of faking a pregnancy to get time off work.

The alarm was first raised when a colleague claimed they saw Robin Folsom's “baby bump” falling off.

The 43-year-old had told this to the bosses US firm Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA) that she was expecting, and arrangements were made for her to take maternity leave from the £74,000-a-year marketing role.

But a co-worker said they noticed Folsom's lump appeared to be coming out of her abdomen, raising suspicion.

The woman is also said to have 'invented' a fake father for the questionable baby – a man named Bran Otmembebwe.

And after the “birth,” Folsom sent photos of the newborn to colleagues – but they looked different babiesher colleagues said.

Folsom also said she already had another baby, which she gave birth to in July 2020, but investigators could not find any evidence or medical records to prove this.