A MOTHER who fraudulently claimed more than £22,500 in benefits has been spared jail.

Lisa Spindler was claiming benefits while her husband earned £130,000 a year from a foreign telecommunications company, Basildon Crown Court heard.

She over-claimed £19,872 in income support and £2,665 in council tax between 2006 and 2009.

However, Spindler, 40, of Leighton Road, Benfleet, was shown leniency after she admitted the fraud. In mitigation, Caroline Moonan said Spindler began claiming for support after her husband was jailed for 12 months for assault.

She had been left looking after their daughter and her husband’s “troubled” teenaged daughter from a previous relationship.

After he was released from jail, the couple remained apart until re-igniting their relationship in 2006. Yet Spindler failed to notify the authorities as soon as they got back together.

The court also heard Spindler’s step-daughter had become pregnant, and for a time Spindler had been full-time carer to the baby.

Miss Moonan added: “The claims for income support and council tax benefit were genuine for many years before they became false.”

Spindler had originally been charged with five counts of fraud relating to £37,000 in benefit.

But the court dropped three of the charges after she accepted the fraud. She also managed to pay back £500 the day before she was to be sentenced and arranged for further payments.

Judge Jonathan Black said: “You were aware changes had taken place to your financial circumstances, but it took you nearly three years to report these changes.”

Spindler was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, 200 hours’ unpaid work and £1,000 costs. She will also face a confiscation hearing on June 7 about recouping some money.