A BURNLEY housewife has been sent for crown court trial by Pennine magistrates charged with a series of benefit fraud offences.

Carol Pounder, 47, has been accused of failing to notify the Department of Work and Pensions that she was keeping a common household with John Pounder, between July 2009 and August 2012, affecting a claim for income support.

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Pounder, of Greenock Close, is also charged with committing fraud, between August 2012 and September 2014, for employment support allowance, on similar grounds.

She is also alleged to have dishonestly failed to notify Burnley Council and the DWP respectively, for a council tax benefit claim between May 2011 and March 2013, and housing benefit claim from May 2011 to April 2014.

Magistrates bailed her until February 29.