Royal Navy poster girl jailed for £2,034 fraud over bogus travel claims
A Royal Navy ’poster girl’ featured in a TV commercial swindled the armed forces out of more than £2,000 through bogus travel claims.
Able Seaman Louise Dorsett, 30, who appeared in a “Made in the Royal Navy” TV advert, failed to tell the Navy she had rented out her home roughly 400 miles away and dishonestly claimed travel allowances.
As the landlord of her mortgaged property in Scotland, Dorsett was not entitled to the ’Get You Home’ allowance, which is intended to cover travel costs for service personnel.
It was determined that she also broke Navy rules by not seeking permission to let the property in Fife, in her home country of Scotland.
She has been ordered to repay the full amount of £2,034 after admitting fraud by false representation and failing to perform a duty.
In an emotional statement to the court, she said her childhood in foster care had been difficult.
Prosecutor Commander Edward Hannah told the court that her offences occurred while she was working in Bristol.
Cdr Hannah said Dorsett failed to seek permission to rent out her Scottish property between October 2 2020 and March 31 2021.
Cdr Hannah said: "She was a recipient from the Forces Help to Buy, but didn’t seek permission before letting the property. She owned the property."
As of 2025, the Forces Help to Buy scheme enables service people to borrow up to half of their salary, up to a maximum of £25,000 interest free towards the purchase of a property.
Those who use this scheme are meant to inform the Ministry of Defence if they want to rent out the property.
Between the same dates, she falsely claimed "home travel allowance to her property in Fife" from a naval support unit in Bristol where she was based at the time.
Assistant Judge Advocate General John Atwill said: "That allowance is designed to compensate service personnel in being posted to a place far from their home, to allow them to return to that home."
He continued: "That allowance was paid to you regularly during your posting to Bristol."
He said that if she had notified the Ministry of Defence that she was renting out her Scottish property, this would "bring attention" to the fact that she was ineligible for the travel allowance she had been claiming.
Sentencing Dorsett, the judge said it was a "tragedy" to see her in court, and noted that she came from "such a difficult starting point" before joining the navy.
"Your dishonest decision has a significant impact on your career and reputation," he said.
The judge imposed a service community order of 12 months and 90 hours of unpaid work.
Dorsett, who had also been posted at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth, is no longer serving in the Royal Navy for unrelated reasons.
Technology & Business Editor
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