A BENEFIT cheat pocketed almost £20,000 by dishonestly claiming that her working husband was not living at home.
Former RAF servicewoman Kelly White, aged 39, told a court they were separated and he only stayed with her from time to time.
But a jury at Plymouth Crown Court only took an hour to unanimously convict the mother-of-one after a three-day trial.
Judge Ian Lawrie ordered that White be detained in a cell for more than two hours while he dealt with other cases.
But he suspended her prison sentence, saying he did not see why the defendant's daughter and grandmother should suffer.
The court heard that White was the main carer for the 80-year-old.
Judge Lawrie said: "You must appreciate that there are people on the breadline who need support. It is people like you who lend weight to the view, however ill-founded, that those people are scrounging off the state.
"If ever you are tempted to offend again, just think of the small room in which you have spent the last few hours."
White, of Barne Road, Barne Barton, wiped tears from her eyes as she was taken from the courtroom to be processed for release.
She had denied three charges of dishonestly failing to disclose a change in circumstances.
White failed to tell the authorities that she was married and sharing a home with a working man.
The court heard that the change in status affected her claims for income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit between 2010 and 2013.
Julia Cox, prosecuting for the Department for Work and Pensions, said the total amount overpaid was £19,395.
She added that White had already overpaid £1,243 and was continuing monthly repayments.
The court heard her husband was working abroad for months at a time, in places such as Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
Deni Mathews, for White, said she had not lived a lavish lifestyle.
He added that she was in debt and was the main carer of her 80-year-old mother, who lived independently in warden-controlled accommodation.
Mr Mathews said the relationship between White and her husband was not constant, comparing it to the on-off relationship of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
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