A THIEVING mother-of-five who invented a further three children to boost her benefits has criticised officials for giving her the money.

Clare Sparrow also cashed her partner’s giro cheques while he was in prison to rake in even more money.

The 24-year-old walked free from Teesside Crown Court after Judge Peter Fox imposed a suspended jail sentence.

After the hearing, Sparrow told The Northern Echo: “The Inland Revenue are sh**e.

They let you get away with stuff like this. All you’ve got to do is ring up.

“I won’t be doing it again though. It is too much bother.”

Sparrow, who is pregnant again, was described by her lawyer as “remarkably fertile”.

She has previous convictions for stealing from work and failing to notify benefits bosses of changes to her circumstances.

In May 2006, Sparrow received a conditional discharge from magistrates for continuing to claim for her imprisoned boyfriend.

But within four months, she made the first of three telephone calls to a tax credit helpline claiming she had had another child.

Twice more over the space of the next two years, Sparrow created non-existent children and collected a total of £5,639.

Between March and May last year, while partner James Cameron was in prison, she had his giro cheque cashed eight times. She later told Revenue and Customs officials that she signed the cheques and another man went to the Post Office to collect the money.

The court heard how Sparrow is now in a relationship with Mr Cameron’s brother.

Peter Wishlade, mitigating, said the former relationship was violent and Sparrow was left with little money to run the household.

He said: “It is quite remarkable you can ring up and say ‘I have had a child born on such and such a date’ and they say ‘oh, we’ll pay you the money’.

“She was told that and found herself in circumstances where she could not meet the normal household expenses, and so the three fictitious children.”

Sparrow, of Zetland Road, Stockton, admitted three charges of making false claims, and eight of making false representations.

The six-month prison sentence was suspended for two years, and Sparrow was ordered to undergo probation service supervision.

Judge Fox told her: “If you do it again I will send you to prison, so don’t.”

Judge Fox said the system which allowed benefits to be paid without any cross-checking was “wholly unsatisfactory”.

Commenting on the case, Nick Shaw, HM Revenue and Customs assistant chief investigator for the North-East, said: “This investigation shows we will seek out those tempted to defraud the tax credit system by submitting fraudulent claims.”