A 37-YEAR-OLD who claimed £75,000 in benefits illegally has been spared prison.

Sarah Burns, of Eastwood, Windmill Hill, took income support, council tax and housing benefits worth around £75,797 over a period of nine years and seven months which she was not entitled to.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday how she had been living with her estranged husband and the pair were living separate lives.

But instead of telling benefits bosses she was no longer alone she carried on receiving the money.

She had already paid back £666 when she came to the attention of the authorities.

Mark Connor, defending, said: “She did offer to pay the money back. While she did make a legitimate claim to begin with, she felt because they weren’t living together in a normal marital life, she was in a position to continue to make the claim.

“She has never been through this process before and is extremely mortified to be before the court. This has brought great shame on her and her family.”

Judge David Hale said: “We have all paid and you have taken 70 odd thousand pounds from us as the community over the years, money you were not entitled to.

“Fortnight by fortnight the money was coming. You have been dreading a knock on the door for years which you also knew was likely to come.

“You have had to wait for a very long time with this hanging over you with you thinking you were going to end up in HMP Styal.”

Judge Hale handed Burns a 36-week suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to four counts of benefit fraud and was ordered to complete a 12-month supervision order.