A WOMAN who received a £100,000 insurance payout and an army pension when her husband died failed to inform the benefits authorities.

Blackburn magistrates heard Betina Silva didn't consider the money was hers and spent it all within a month.

She claimed to have given much of it to friends and family back in her native Germany as well as lending £30,000 to a friend who was running a beauty salon.

And the court was told after the spree she spent the winter without money for the electricity meter and was now in arrears with her rent.

Silva, 59, of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, pleaded guilty to dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances which affected her entitlement to employment support allowance and housing benefits. She was given a conditional discharge for 12 months.

Silva told a probation officer who prepared a pre-sentence report that in 2015 both the defendant's husband and her sister's husband had been diagnosed with cancer.

The doctor said if there was anything they wanted to do they should do it soon while they still could and they went on a trip to her home town in Germany where they had met.

Her husband told Silva that if anything happened to him she should look after her sister and the family.

She received the insurance payout when he died but said she didn't fell as though it was her money.

She went to Germany and supported her sister and her brother-in-law, gave some money to her carer and her carer's daughter and loaned £30,000 to some friends who own a beauty salon.

Just a month after being left the money she was left with nothing.

Richard Prew, defending, said his client hadn't taken any benefit from the inheritance.

"Her mobility is severely restricted because of a stroke she suffered in 2016 and effectively lives in her bedroom," said Mr Prew.

"She has never been in trouble before and I am sure she will never appear in court again."