A 44-year-old woman from Moss Bank was ordered to complete a 200-hour community punishment order after admitting nine offences of deception and forgery in relation to housing and council tax benefits.

The case against the woman was brought by St Helens Council's fraud investigation team. At St Helens Magistrates Court the defendant admitted that she was overpaid a total of £2,376.62 in benefits after claiming that she was working part-time, when she was, in fact, working full-time.

Her legal representative told the court that she had been faced with crippling debts.