A MOTHER has appeared in court charged with claiming £46,000 in benefit while living with her family in Gibraltar.

Julie Thompson, 34, is alleged to have been claiming benefit for herself and her two children despite leaving the UK in 1997.

Michael Singleton, prosecuting for the Department of Works and Pensions, said benefits had been paid by automatic transfer into a bank account.

They had been suspended in January and Thompson had responded to a letter sent to her Accrington address. She flew back to the UK on Friday and was arrested when she went to the benefit offices on Monday, he said.

He told Blackburn magistrates that a house in Gillies Street, Accrington, was used for her benefit claim.

Peter King, defending, said Thompson, who gave her address as Olive Grove, Europa Road, Gibraltar, had no previous convictions and asked the magistrates to grant her bail. He said her mother, Mary Waterhouse, of Garden Street, Accrington, was prepared to stand surety of £3,000.

He said Thompson's two children, aged 11 and seven are now in Accrington.

The magistrates refused bail and Thompson was remanded in custody until March 27.