A 63-YEAR-OLD benefit cheat was given a conditional discharge after fraudulently claiming almost £6,000.
Jean Levett, of Hart Dyke Road, Swanley, pleaded guilty at Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court to seven charges of providing false documents to claim money.
Between May 1997 and October 2002 Levett obtained £4,717 in housing benefit and £1,243 in council tax benefit.
She failed to declare on benefit claim forms she was working.
The over-payment was traced through a routine computer data-matching exercise in February last year.
Levett was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £75 in costs.
Arrangements have been made for Levett to pay the money back to the council.
The council's cabinet member with responsibility for finance, Councillor Brian Ramsay, said: "Benefit fraud is a crime the council is determined to take a stand against as it uses valuable taxpayers' money which should be spent on services."
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