A judge has hit out at the Crown Prosecution Service after he had to re-sentence a benefit cheat after they got their figures wrong.

Judge Jonathan Carroll had sentenced Lynn Rooney to eight months in custody suspended for two years after hearing how she had pocketed more than £14,000 in false benefit claims.

He also ordered her to be placed on an electronically tagged curfew and attend 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days before the prosecution’s error came to light.

The 64-year-old was back in Teesside Crown Court to be resentenced after her initial term was quashed when it was revealed she had actually benefited by £8,381,59 reselting in the punishment being lowered.

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Expressing his frustration at the CPS mistake, he said: “You were sentenced on an erroneous basis, to the defendant’s significant disadvantage.

“The prosecution absolutely must have the correct information so a person can be reliably sentenced.”

He added: “Had it not been dealt with by Judge Crowson you would have had to go to the Court of Appeal and I would have had no poor or jurisdiction to deal with it.

“I’m absolutely certain that their Lordships would have been significantly more robust about it than I have been because the lesson has been learnt.

“Their Lordships would have been incandescent about it.”

Rooney, of Dunbar Road, Billingham, had been found guilty of making the false benefit claims between April 4, 2020, and October 21, 2021, following a trial at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

Judge Carroll sentenced her to 26 weeks in prison, suspended for two years and reduced the number of RAR days to 16 after hearing she had already completed four sessions.

He also dropped the curfew element as she had served six-weeks until the mistake was identified.

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Addressing the defendant, he said: “I’m sorry that you have had to come back to court, I’m sorry that you were sentenced on an incorrect basis but I acted on the information that the prosecution gave to me.

“It is for the prosecution to apologise for giving that information inaccurately in the first place.”

In December, the court heard how Rooney’s scam came unstuck when the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) became aware of a mortgage application for a house in Billingham and an investigation revealed it belonged to the defendant.

She had made spurious claims to the DWP as well as Stockton Borough Council when she failed to declare that she owned a second property.