Facebook post snares benefit con woman, 26

Katie Burton found herself in even deeper trouble when fraud investigators discovered she had also worked at two bar jobs while illegally claiming.

Burton, a 26-year-old mother, of Lancaster Road, Knott End, pleaded guilty to dishonestly making a false statement and dishonestly failing to notify a change in her circumstances.

She was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £15 victims’ surcharge by Blackpool magistrates.

Prosecutor, Pam Smith, said when fraud investigators interviewed Burton she at first denied living with her fiance, but it was then pointed out that he had posted the news of their engagement on his Facebook page.

Burton had also done bar work at Knott End Working Men’s Club and the Bourne Arms while claiming.

Between October 2011 and December 2014 Burton swindled £4,235 in Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support from the public purse.

Hugh Pond, defending, said his client, who had no previous convictions, had been the sole breadwinner. At one stage Burton’s partner had left her when she was pregnant.

Mr Pond added: “He seems a young man incapable of work.

“He, I think, is too lazy to work. He is living in the house and living off her benefits.”