An Almondbury woman falsely claimed more than £8,000 in benefits after failing to disclose that she was living with her partner.

Rebecca Alderson, of Neville Grove, was found guilty after a trial of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances affecting her entitlement to income support.

Kirklees Magistrates Court heard that the mother-of-five was convicted after her partner’s brother gave evidence that the pair were living together.

District Judge Michael Fanning told her that her family saved her from being jailed.

The Huddersfield court heard that the fraud occurred between May 2010 and September 2014. Alderson made her initial claims on the basis that she was claiming for herself and her three children.

However, she later failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions when her circumstances changed and she began maintaining a common household with her partner Ian Richardson.

Prosecutor Ben Crosland said: “A number of pieces of evidence were put before the court to show that they shared a household, something the defendant denied.

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“Yorkshire Bank accounts for Mr Richardson contained the defendant’s address and Virgin Media showed him as the account holder at her address.

“Employment records for Mr Richardson also demonstrated that he was living with the defendant.”

The couple then became parents to two children, born in February 2011 and August 2013.

Mr Crosland said: “That birth was registered in September by the defendant and Mr Richardson and the defendant’s home address was the address of both parents.

“Perhaps the most significant was Mr Richardson’s brother who gave evidence across a TV link from Teesside.

“His evidence was that Mr Richardson wasn’t living in Saltburn (in Teeside) and that he was living in Yorkshire.”

The court heard that Alderson, 35, was overpaid £8,524 in benefits as a result of the fraud.

Aafaab Hussain, mitigating, said that his client was the sole provider for her children.

He added that their fathers have not provided maintenance and their welfare fell on Alderson’s shoulders.

Alderson was sentenced to a community order with 240 hours of unpaid work.

She also has to pay £640 court costs and £60 victim surcharge.

The benefits agency will have to recover the outstanding debt.

Judge Fanning told her: “This (the fraud) was over a long period of time and involved £8,500 of public money being diverted to you when you were not entitled to it.

“The principal reason you are not going to prison is that it would be devastating to your young family.”