A WOMAN accused of a £10,000-plus benefits fraud has been cleared, and a court was told the Department for Work and Pensions now owed her cash.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the department had over calculated the overpayment to Urvasi Patel, 36. She had been repaying the department and had already handed over more than it had been alleged she had been overpaid.

The DWP offered no evidence and the defendant, of Accrington Road, Intack, Blackburn, was found not guilty of making a false representation and failing to promptly notify a change in circumstances. She had no previous convictions.