A WOMAN who falsely claimed more than £16,000 in benefits has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Fiona Bradshaw pocketed income support as a single parent for herself and three dependant children, Bolton Crown Court heard.

The 41-year-old used her mother’s address in Higher Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, to claim for the benefits.

But officers from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched an investigation after being informed that Bradshaw was living with her partner in Horbury Drive, Bury.

When interviewed under caution, Bradshaw admitted that she had moved to her partner’s house 10 years ago. She pleaded guilty to falsely obtaining benefits when she appeared at Bolton Crown Court.

Bradshaw was previously of good character and one of her children is autistic, the court was told.

But Judge Lynsey Kushner said: “This was a long-standing fraud against the public at large; benefits are there to form subsistence for those who need it, so when someone cheats the benefit system, they cheat all of us.”

She gave Bradshaw a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. Bradshaw must also do 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.