Former Calne resident Pamela Ewart, 63, will have to pay back £20,000 in benefits after being found guilty of benefit fraud during a joint investigation.

The investigation, involving Wiltshire Council, Plymouth Council and the Department of Work and Pensions, found that Ewart, of Talbot Gardens, Plymouth, had been significantly overpaid.

She did not let Plymouth Council know she had left an address she claimed benefits for in Plymouth when lived at Harrier Close in Calne.

Ewart continued to receive housing benefit she was not entitled to and also made a claim for benefits at her address in Calne without letting Wiltshire Council know that she and her husband were living together.

Ewart led the council to believe her husband was not living with her by falsifying documents.

She pleaded guilty to two charges under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and two charges under the Fraud Act 2006.

Ewart was sentenced to a six-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, on Friday, January 10, at Plymouth Magistrates' Court.

She will have to pay back the overpaid benefits in full plus £150 for legal costs.