A WOMAN claimed £3,000 benefits she wasn’t entitled to when she kept quiet about her partner moving in, a court heard.

Burnley magistrates were told how mother-of-two Gemma Ridgway, 30, had suffered violence at the hands of her boyfriend Aaron Walton, but he had ‘wormed his way’ back into her affections.

The defendant, who has never been in trouble before, of Acre Avenue, Bacup, admitted two counts of failing to notify a change in circumstances — that she was living with her boyfriend — to the Department for Work and Pensions and Burnley Council, between April and August last year.

She was given a six- month conditional discharge by District Judge James Clarke.

The defendant was also ordered to pay £50 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.