A £19,000 benefits cheat who kept quiet about living with her partner, has walked free from court.

Elisha Barker, 29, took part in a two and a half year scam, netting taxpayers’ cash to the turn of £18,893.

The mother of two was now paying back the money in small amounts, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Barker, who had no previous convictions, admitted three counts of dishonestly failing to promptly notify a change in circumstances, between February 2008 and July 2010.

The defendant, of Lubbock Street, Burnley, was given six months in jail, suspended for a year, with supervision and 240 hours unpaid work.

The hearing was told the defendant made a claim for income support in April 2006, on the basis she was a single parent with two dependent children. The claim was legitimate at the start.

Barker also claimed housing benefits and council tax benefits.

The claim became unlawful from February 2008, when she was living with a man and did not tell the authorities.

Sentencing, Recorder Barry Searle told the defendant the offences were serious.

He continued: “By your actions, you have defrauded the community and you have defrauded the system, which is designed to help people in genuine need.”