A SINGLE mum swindled the Child Benefit Agency out of more than £3,000 by failing to declare five years' worth of maintenance payments from her ex-husband.

Helen Wakley first applied for benefit when she separated from her spouse in 1994 to help support their young son Thomas.

But the 52-year-old continued to fill in the yearly forms stating she was in the same boat when her husband started sending maintenance a year later.

From January 1995 to November 1999, Wakley claimed £3,562 of benefit money from the Department of Social Security, for which she was not entitled.

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Jim Rogers, prosecuting on behalf of the DSS, said she was called in for interview when evidence arose she had been receiving money from her former husband.

"She admitted being stupid but said she did ring the agency at the time."

"She has repaid £600 of the money owed."

Wakley, of Windermere Drive, Warndon, who has no previous convictions, was found guilty of falsifying documents at a trial in November. She had denied the charge.

She appeared before Droitwich magistrates yesterday to face sentencing.

Brian O'Connell, defending, said: "As soon as she found employment she signed off," he said.

"She also started paying the money back a long time before proceedings commenced."

Magistrates ordered her to carry out a 100-hour community punishment order and pay £100 costs.