A 52-YEAR-OLD woman dishonestly pocketed almost £40,000 in benefits over five years while living with a partner who gave her lump sums of up to £1,500, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Janet MacGregor was "far from being on the bread line" while fleecing the taxpayer of Housing and Council Tax Benefit and Income Support, prosecutor Abigail Langford said.

MacGregor, of Birch Avenue, West Bowling, Bradford, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to two offences of benefit fraud, between March 2008 and February 2013.

Miss Langford told the court today the total overpayment was £39,963.

She said MacGregor failed to declare to the Department of Work and Pensions and Bradford Council that she was living with a man called Colin Simpson.

Mr Simpson was in work and paid for a family holiday and household items, as well as giving MacGregor sums of up to £1,500.

She described Mr Simpson as her lodger, while he had declared to his employer that she was his partner.

In mitigation, MacGregor's solicitor advocate, Anne-Marie Hutton, said Mr Simpson's degree of involvement in the household varied over time.

"She is a lady of 52 who has never troubled the courts before," Miss Hutton said.

"She has been dreading the dawning of today."

Miss Hutton said MacGregor had suffered from serious health problems for many years.

An epileptic, her seizures meant she could not be left alone and often became injured.

She had been cared for by her family for many years and would need to be strictly monitored if she went to prison.

Her ill health meant she had never been able to hold down a job.

Miss Hutton said arrangements were being made to repay the money, either directly or out of MacGregor's Disability and Incapacity Benefit payments.

The judge, Recorder Dean Kershaw, acknowledged that MacGregor had a serious health problem but told her she had committed "a shameful act".

"You perfectly, deliberately and fraudulently took money from the state system. That is money that other people need, that this country needs," he told her.

"The courts take a very dim view of people who set out to defraud the system."

But sentencing her to the suspended jail term, Recorder Kershaw noted that references had also been compiled by friends and family members, praising her as "an amazing mother".

He added: "I am satisfied that you have learned your lesson."