A WOMAN obtained more than £22,000 benefit over a period of eight years by claiming she was living alone.
In fact, Ann Hewitt, 56, was living with a partner between July 2001 and June 2009, magistrates heard at Warrington.
Hewitt, of Leicester Street, Warrington admitted falsely obtaining housing benefit of £18,863 and council tax benefit of £3,353.81.
She was ordered to repay the money, given a six months jail sentence suspended for two years, ordered to do 240 hours unpaid community work and pay £100 costs.
After the hearing, Adrian Webster, Warrington Borough Council’s benefits manager said: “All benefit theft is crime.
“There are no exceptions. People who knowingly withhold information or deliberately fail to report a change in their circumstances are benefit thieves. It is not ‘playing the game’ – it is breaking the law.”
