A WOMAN who cheated taxpayers out of more than £8,000 has been ordered to do unpaid work in the community as her punishment.

Marie Gaskin, of Boulting Avenue in Dallam, pleaded guilty to five offences of failing to declare that she and her partner were both in paid employment.

She was sentenced to a 120-hour community punishment order and ordered to pay the money back plus £100 costs, at Warrington Magistrates Court last Tuesday (April 19).

The court heard that Gaskin, aged 32, defrauded the council of £6,096.82 in housing benefit and £2,173.26 in council tax

benefit between April 2001 and September 2004.

Commenting after the case, Adrian Webster, benefits manager at Warrington Borough Council, said: "Benefit cheats have to realise that they cannot abuse the benefit system and steal from the rest of society.

"They are not just defrauding the government, but their own tax paying neighbours and communities in Warrington as well.

"Fraud is theft and this case is a clear demonstration of our determination to tackle benefit fraud.

"We are introducing new methods of data matching.

"The message now is benefit cheats will be caught, and we are reducing the amount of money lost through cheats."