Mother stole £17,000

Mrs Lisa Brown, previously from West Malling, and now in Maidstone, pleaded guilty on Tuesday 15 June 2010 and was sentenced on 6 July 2010 at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court on three counts of obtaining benefits to which she was not entitled.

It was heard that Mrs Brown, a mother of five children, was receiving more than £700 a month from the three fathers of her children and that these payments should have been declared to the two authorities. Mrs Brown was overpaid £17,217 in Income Support, Housing and Council Tax Benefits between January 2006 and January 2008.

The Chair of the Bench, Mr David Smith, in sentencing Mrs Brown stated: "In considering this sentence we note there were multiple offences, fraud from the outset and the overpayment is a substantial loss to tax payers. We have read the probation reports carefully and in line with their recommendations and your early guilty plea we sentence you to a two-year community punishment order with 200 hours unpaid work with £150 costs."

Mrs Brown will also have to repay all the money fraudulently claimed.