A BENEFIT fraudster who cheated tax payers out of more than £140,000 has been ordered to pay back less than a third of those gains.

Theresa Burberry, 46, not only plundered £70,000 in payments she wasn't entitled to but also deprived a needy family of a council house by lying to get one for herself.

Now Burberry, who is on early release from an eight-month jail term, has been found to have benefitted from crime to the tune of just £46,959, which must be repaid under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

And despite having a £70,000 plus share in a house Judge Tim Mousley QC chopped the costs she must pay by thousands.

Council tax payers will now have to foot the bill for more than £2,000 which was incurred by the local authority in their investigation and prosecution of the fraudster.

Alan Fuller, prosecuting, said it was accepted that the benefit figure was £46,959 and told Swindon Crown Court the costs of bringing the case were £9,713.

He said: "Given the nature of the prosecuting agency, it is the local authority, they are duty bound to seek the full order from the court lest the balance lies on the shoulders of the council tax payers."

The costs had risen, he said, because Burberry had claimed her house was owned 'by a relative who has never existed', making the matter more complicated.

But after giving Burberry three months to pay the benefit figure the judge ordered she pay just £7,500 in costs.

The single mum, who also uses the name Tracy Sheridan, lived in a council property despite owning a house which she rented out.

The lengthy fraud started in 2005 when she applied for housing benefit at her home on Naunton Road, Park North.

After twice failing she managed to get local authority accommodation in January 2006, first in Windflower Road and then later moving to Hathaway Road.

She then automatically qualified for housing and council tax benefits, which she claimed until 2014, also getting income support, then job seekers' allowance.

During the period she lived in local authority accommodation her own house was worth between £99,000 and £123,000, the court heard.

And when she sold it for just £60,000 in November 2014 she used the cash to pay £73,590 for a 40 per cent share in her new house.

Between 2005 and 2014 she received £72,127.06p in state handouts but had she been honest about her situation the court heard she would have been entitled to nothing.

"She denied a home to a deserving family. The cost to the council of providing a home to such a family is about £10,000 a year," Mr Fuller said.

"The cost to the local authority is in the region of £70,000. So it is using that figure; the total loss to the taxpayer is £142,127."

Burberry, of Sanders Close, Kingsdown, pleaded guilty to four counts of making a false representation to obtain benefits, one failing to notify change in circumstance, one of obtaining services by deception and one attempt.

Tony Bignall, defending, said she had been in an abusive relationship in the past, was 'bewildered' by what she had done and seemed 'naive'.