DIVORCEE Catherine Milligan struck up a close relationship with her first boyfriend after the acrimonious breakdown of her marriage, a court was told.

But the course of true love took a tragic twist when he suffered a fractured skull in an accident at work and subsequently died.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Milligan, who had lived in Blackburn, had been shattered by his death but a friend's efforts to help her through ended with her committing benefit fraud.

Milligan, 49, of Whitworth Street, Manchester, pleaded guilty to two charges of making false statements to obtain benefit. She was given a conditional discharge for 18 months and ordered to pay £75 costs.

The court heard that Milligan had received payment of £2,300 in a 33-week period when she claimed sickness benefit while working as a waitress and barmaid in Norths Bar, Town Hall Street, Blackburn.

Kevin Preston, defending, said Milligan's boyfriend suffered the fractured skull while working in Germany but the injury had not been diagnosed. It led to internal bleeding and he suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage.