A benefit cheat that claimed more than £41,000 in incapacity benefits was secretly topping up her income by working in a bingo club. Suzanne Downie, 52, who claimed the money over seven years, has been given a six-month prison sentence suspended for a year.

After being found out, following investigations, she admitted to six accounts of falsely claiming the money.

The prosecutor, Michael Newbold, told the Crown Court in Portsmoutht: ‘She was a claimant from 1997, but worked for Peter Arnett Leisure, at Crown Bingo, as a cleaner, from 1999 to 2009 and didn’t declare it.’

She had claimed £30,800 in incapacity benefits, £8,000 in housing benefit and £2,400 council tax.

It was claimed in court that in 2004 she was working 23 hours a week for which she was paid £86.06 and in addition received £81.95 per week in incapacity benefit.

In September 2009, she found out that the DWP was investigating her and handed her resignation into her employers.

The letter stated: ‘I want to leave your employment because of personal reasons. I’m hoping you don’t give out information about your workers. Lots of people leave their jobs and that should be that. Otherwise it could cause unnecessary trouble.’

Defending her case, Robert Bryan told the court: ‘When she first made the claim, she wasn’t working. She has back problems and walks with two crutches. She had credit card bills to pay off. She wasn’t using the money to live a rich lifestyle.’

He added: ‘She has lived in a council flat for 15 years and she qualified for the benefits when she first applied for them. It is not as if she has lived an extravagant lifestyle, she just hoped to pay off debts and her crime was to fail to inform the DWP of her change in status.’

Recorder Michael Norman commented: ‘I could have given you an immediate six-month prison sentence, but because you did this to pay a credit card bill, it will be suspended for 12 months.’

He also ordered Downie receive a three-month curfew and must be at home between 7pm and 7am each evening.