Cheat: Samantha Myatt has been banned from going out on weekends after defrauding the taxpayer of £16,000 in benefits'
A benefits cheat has been banned from going out at the weekends in a bid to stop her going abroad after she spent thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on foreign holidays.
Samantha Myatt claimed to be an unemployed single mother in order to claim a total of £16,000 in fraudulent benefits, which she spent on travelling to Spain at least twice a year.
But in fact the 39-year-old was working as a kitchen assistant and living with her partner, who received a pension from his former employer.
She has now been handed a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to cheating the taxpayer.
Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that Myatt was caught out after investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions received a tip-off.
Jacky Bramley, prosecuting, told the court Myatt first started claiming benefits in 2004, when she said she was a single non-working parent looking after her disabled child.
In October 2005, her partner Neil Britton moved in with her in Wednesfield, West Midlands - but failed to declare that he had a company pension.
Two months later, Myatt found work as a kitchen assistant and a second part-time job at Gala Bingo.
Ms Bramley said Myatt had deposited large sums of money into Mr Britton's account, including £3,000 in August 2010 and £68,000 in December 2010.
Mahmood Hussain, defending, told the court Myatt had got into debt and was aware of the seriousness of what she had done.
Myatt pleaded guilty to six counts of failing to notify a change in circumstances and three of falsely making a statement to obtain payment or benefit.
Sentenced: Myatt was given a suspended prison sentence at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court, pictured'
Judge Graham Wilkinson also imposed a curfew on Myatt stopping her going out on Friday or Saturday night for six months in case she tries to go on holiday.
'You have lied and lied again all the way through this investigation,' he said.
'You were spending your ill-gotten gains on life's luxuries.'
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