A MARRIED benefits cheat pretended to be a single mother in order to defraud the state of more than £10,000.

Leanne Kelly Cutts, of Pant Heulog, Penrhyndeudraeth, claimed employment support allowance, income support, job seekers’ allowance and housing and council tax benefits over a three-year-period despite living with a husband who supported her financially.

A sentence hearing at Caernarfon Crown Court on Friday heard how the 35-year-old mum-of-three falsely claimed the benefits under her maiden name of Southwell.

Prosecutor Jonathan Austen told the court that Cutts had pocketed a total amount of £10,881 by pretending she was single and looking after her children alone.

He said: “She claimed she was living alone as a single parent without any income from employment.

“She was, as it emerged, married to Mr Cutts and living with him.”

Cutts also provided the Department of Work and Pensions with a false tenancy agreement showing her rental costs were higher than the amount she was actually paying.

Police discovered that document as well as Cutts’ marriage certificate.

When first questioned by officers, however, the 35-year-old continued with her pretence to be single but she ultimately admitted her guilt at a magistrates’ court hearing in Dolgellau on Thursday 5 November.

Mr Austen said: “She denied that she had been cohabiting with Mr Cutts and she denied that she was in a relationship.

“She confirmed that she was a single parent with no income or capital. She said that she and Mr Cutts were just friends and that they had never been in a relationship.”

Cutts’ barrister Matthew Curtis told the court his client was “in fear of the prospect of a custodial sentence,” had three children, including the youngest aged just 13 months, and had broken up with her husband after a “troubled marriage” in June this year.

She had no previous convictions, he added.

His Honour judge Rhys Rowlands told the women he would spare her an immediate prison sentence but scolded her for exploiting a benefits system designed to aid those in need.

He said: “This sort of offence does cause concern but also real anger for a number of us in this society.

“This society has many deserving people who are having to get by with less because of the actions of people like yourself.”

Telling Cutts he had taken into account the fact that she has children aged 13 months, two years and 13, Judge Rowlands sentenced her to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

She will be subject to the supervision of the probation service for 12 months and will have to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.