A benefit cheat scooped over £33,000 in wrongful payments by keeping quiet for an "extensive period" of time that she was living with her partner, who was working.
Shanie-Leigh Altoft repeatedly failed to disclose with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) what her true living arrangements and household finances were.
The 34 year-old admitted two offences of fraud by failing to disclose to the DWP and to East Riding of Yorkshire Council that she was living with her partner in a common household.
This was in a bid to obtain Universal Credit and council tax benefit, between December 9, 2019 and February 8, 2025.
Altoft had initially denied the offences and the case was originally listed for trial at Hull Crown Court.
However, the court heard how she then pleaded guilty after early denials.
She had told the authorities that she was a single woman, with a dependent child, and had no other income, reports Hull Live.
Altoft signed a legal declaration that these facts were true, leading to an investigation by the DWP.
Altoft was sentenced at Hull Crown Court
| PAHowever, when Altoft moved to Beverley, she and her partner were jointly liable for rent.
She failed to declare with the authorities that she was living with him at all.
Holly Thompson, prosecuting, said: "At no time did she declare her joint residency with him."
"Given that he was in full-time employment, the two of them would not have had any entitlement through the DWP."
Altoft had lied to investigators from the DWP
| GETTYWhen she was pressed if he was living with her, she claimed that he did not do so and that he would stay with her only a couple of nights a week and that he usually stayed with his parents.
Thompson told the court the total amount of the fraud was an overpayment of £33,162.
During an interview, Altoft said that she had been living with her partner since May or June 2023 and that the relationship was "very volatile".
She then said that, at the times of the claim, she was living on her own.
In mitigation, Billy Torbett told the court: "She is wholly apologetic, remorseful and, quite frankly, embarrassed about her offending."
Mr Torbett added: "She has committed no offences relating to fraud, theft and other offences of dishonesty the like of this one. This offending is wholly out of character for her."
The court heard how Altoft had previously worked as a carer at a residential home but she left that job for another in the care sector, but it did not "work out" and she returned to her previous employment as only a "bank carer".
He said: "She felt financially trapped and could not meet her financial needs...she was not living a lavish lifestyle. She has nothing to show for this. She was simply getting by."
Recorder Simon Goldberg KC told Altoft: "Your offending is aggravated by the extensive period over which it extended."
"If you don't comply with the terms of that order or if you commit another offence, you can be brought back to court and that custodial sentence can be activated,"
Altoft was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence and 15 days' rehabilitation.
The money that she fraudulently received will have to be paid back, according to the council.