A WOMAN has been given a three-year conditional discharge for falsely claiming benefits.
Lee-Ann French, 30, of Carlow Street, Middlesbrough, started claiming income support in 1997, but failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions when she started work as a shop assistant, the following year.
The fraud came to light when the department's computerised matching service indicated that she was working and claiming at the same time.
Magistrates heard that French had claimed £23,353 to which she was not entitled between June 1998 and September last year. She admitted the charge of failure to notify a change in her circumstances.
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