A BENEFITS cheat holidayed in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Tenerife while fiddling more than £32,000.

Tracy Mullins, 47, claimed to the Department of Work (DWP) and Pensions and Rossendale Council that she was a single mother and unable to work to get income support payouts between 2006 and 2012, Burnley Crown Court was told.

But DWP investigators found she had been living with partner Steven Mullins for much of that time at their semi-detached home in Rosendale Crescent, Bacup, the court heard.

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Prosecutor Catherine Ellis said further inquiries by benefits officials showed they had a joint account with the Halifax Building Society, which showed £1,500 had been paid out as a deposit on a holiday in Tenerife.

Other transactions supported trips to Jamaica in 2011 and the Dominican Republic in 2012, the court heard.

Mr Mullins also listed the Rosendale Crescent address as his home when he bought properties in 2010, 2011 and again in 2012, said Ms Ellis.

And he paid the TV licence for the property over a number of years. The house had been paid for in full, at a price of £36,000, in 2006.

The court was told that Ellis initially denied being a benefits cheat when invited to attend an interview by the DWP in May 2014.

But appearing in court later, Mullins admitted to three offences of failing to notify a change in circumstances for benefits, also covering council tax and housing benefit claims.

She was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £600 court costs.

Her only previous conviction was for handling stolen goods in 2005.

Keith Harrison, defending, said his client had managed to repay the illegally obtained funds in full, after taking out loans with her brother, mother-in-law, father-in-law and a family friend.

“Between them they will have to pay this money back.

“The main thing is that the department have received their money,” said Mr Harrison.

He told the court that his client, who has grown-up children, did not have any similar previous convictions and was entirely dependent on her partner financially, even though their house was in her name.

Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Woolman said: “The sentence can be suspended partly because you are 47, with only one minor matter to your name, and partly because the money has been paid back.”