A benefit cheat managed to get away with a judicial sentence after she was exposed to have defrauded £30,000 in benefits, when she claimed that her partner was her landlord.

For over three years Bolton Council paid out nearly £30,000 for her fraudulent claims for council tax and housing benefit, on top of this she also claimed income support for being a single parent.

After three years the Council's work and pensions department finally discovered that her landlord was in fact the father of her children and that they were living together.

The couple, although living together were not suspected as they had different surnames and the woman had supplied a false tenancy agreement with the landlord's address as being Preston.

Alarms were raised when the second of their two children was born and had the same surname as the supposed landlord.

After admitting to her guilt of falsely claiming benefits she was handed a six month sentence suspended for two years. The court did not order her to repay the money, however she has to carry out 120 hours of community work.

The couple were each fined £900 costs and a paltry £80 victim surcharge by Bolton Magistrates Court.

A council spokesman said: “We are committed to protecting public funds and bringing benefit cheats to justice.

“While most benefit claimants are honest, there are unfortunately some who abuse the system. People pretending to live alone to get benefits is one of the most common types of benefit fraud.

“This particular case was a bit unusual as the claimant’s partner actually turned out to be her landlord.

“But what this case shows is that not only will we prosecute fraudulent claimants but we will go after landlords as well if we suspect that they are defrauding the system.”

The couple have now married.