A woman who fraudulently claimed almost £30,000 in benefits over nine years has avoided jail.

Sharon Jones, 43, claimed housing, council tax and employment benefits – telling authorities she was living alone with her children.

In reality her husband was living with her and supporting the family, a court was told.

Jones was paid benefits for nine years until she was caught. The mother-of-three, of Ashley Road, Wilmslow, admitted three charges of

dishonestly making a false statement to obtain benefits.

Magistrates in Macclesfield described her offences as ‘serious’ and handed Jones an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.

The court heard Jones was living in Stockport when she first began to falsely claim housing and council tax benefit from Stockport Council in December 2004.

The fraud lasted five years until she and her family moved to Wilmslow.

Once again Jones lied, telling Cheshire East Council she lived alone to fraudulently claim housing and council tax benefit.

Then in November 2010 she got a job and began claiming employment support allowance from the Department of Work and Pensions.

The total claimed over the nine years was £29,546.88.

Sheela Dutton, prosecuting for Cheshire East Council, said: “This claim was fraudulent from the start and aggravated by multiple claims.

“Mrs Jones claimed she was living alone when she was living with her husband.

“When she was investigated during an interview Mrs Jones maintained that she and her husband were not living together, that he was visiting her because she was ill.

“But as we now know, this was false.”

The court heard that Jones and her husband have debts of more than £100,000 and have already begun paying back the debt to Stockport Council.

Neil Dougall, defending, said the fraud was committed out of ignorance not malice.

“The relationship is perhaps not a normal one. They quite often live together and quite often do not.

“Mrs Jones has mental health issues and the experience of being prosecuted has traumatised her.”

Magistrates also gave Jones a four-month curfew banning her from leaving her house from 6pm to 6am.