A WOMAN who carried out a large- scale fraud, said to involve more than £40,000, has been placed on two years community rehab-ilitation.

Julie Cafferty was told by a judge that the sentence was not a soft option but a direct alternative to a prison term.

Cafferty, 40, of Bentham Road, Blackburn, appeared at Preston Crown Court, having earlier pleaded guilty to six offences of using a false instrument with intent to deceive.

The case was said to involve more than £40,000. The offences were committed while she was seeing to the financial affairs of her then partner, and involved the obtaining of a second mortgage, applications for credit cards, and a loan agreement, the court was told.

The first partner, Jeffrey Eskdale, knew of the matter was when he got a call from a credit card company demanding payment on something he had no knowledge about, the court was told.

The court heard that the money was not used to fund a lavish lifestyle. It was spent on keeping the man and his family in the manner to which they were accustomed, said the judge.

Nick Kennedy, defend-ing, produced a letter to the court that Cafferty had written.

He said she "had it on good authority" that Mr Eskdale was to remarry in April.

Judge Angela Nield told Cafferty she had embarked on a number of offences which had snowballed. The woman had ended up robbing Peter to pay Paul'.