A WOMAN who falsely claimed more than £17,000 in benefits has escaped jail.
Mum-of-three Julie Matthews, from Wombwell, did not declare she was married because her husband was gay, Barnsley Magistrates' Court was told.
The 48-year-old and her husband, Ian, married in 2003 but had not lived together ‘for a significant period of time’, before he moved back home in 2011.
But she failed to notify the Department of Work and Pensions and Barnsley Council of the change in her circumstances.
Chantel Lowery-Green, prosecuting, said Matthews was paying £17,541 back at a rate of about £19 a week.
Matthews admitted five counts of benefit fraud and was given a 20-week suspended jail term, a 12-week curfew, ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and told to pay an £80 victim surcharge.
