A CURFEW has been put on a Denby Dale woman who fraudulently claimed £2,500 in benefits.

Huddersfield Magistrates' Court heard how Kate Williams, of Garden Terrace, put in a claim for housing and council tax benefits on September 18 last year.

Williams, a self- employed mobile hairdresser, told staff at Huddersfield's Job Centre Plus that she was living alone at her previous address at Saville Street in Scissett.

She put the same on forms. But, in fact, she was living with her boyfriend, whom she has now married.

Williams continued to claim the benefits until April this year, when she asked for them to be stopped.

She moved in with her mother at Clayton West on May 10.

The benefit fraud team at Kirklees Council received information about Williams' deception.

She was interviewed on May 11, but denied that her boyfriend had been living with her.

But two days later she went back to investigators and admitted committing fraud.

She is now paying off the £2,500 she falsely claimed in monthly instalments of £273.

Williams' solicitor, Rebecca Thorley, said the fraud was a one-off mistake that would not be repeated.

She said Williams was a woman of good character and had only committed the fraud because she was in financial difficulty.

Magistrates put a curfew on Williams, stopping her from going out between 8pm and 7am for three months.

She was also ordered to pay £150 court costs.