A SINGLE mother who worked at West Middlesex Hospital for over a year while illegally claiming over £3,000 in benefits has been ordered to repay the community.

Rebecca Kayemba of All Saints Court, Heston, was sentenced to undertake a 40-hour community punishment order at Feltham Magistrates' Court on November 30, to compensate for the £3,472.37 she fraudulently claimed from Hounslow Council's housing and council tax benefit departments.

Kayemba pleaded guilty to the council-led prosecution after her fraud was discovered following a four-month investigation between March and July this year revealed she had been working at the Twickenham Road hospital since March last year without telling the benefits office.

Welcoming the conviction, Robert Della Sala, Hounslow's principal fraud manager, said: "Fraud is not a victimless crime it costs every household in the country over £80 per year.

"People would be rightly angry if this was stolen from their wallets. Stealing from the benefits system is no different."