A CARE worker who cheated taxpayers out of more than £11,000 dodged prison after a judge heard she has started paying it back.

Maria Lawson's claim for Employment Support Allowance depended on her working no more than 16 hours a week.

But when the 63-year-old was asked to do more, she agreed in case she lost her job, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Over almost two years, there was an overpayment in benefits of £11,169, said prosecutor Shaun Dryden.

Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said Lawson has already paid back £5,700 and hopes to repay more in the next three months.

Lawson, of Egglestone Terrace, Stockton, admitted failing to notify a change in circumstances, and was given a community order with 100 hours of unpaid community work.

Judge Peter Armstrong told her: "I think you had simply got used to the money and sensibly took a job which – if you had kept to 16 hours – would not have been a problem.

"But you were obviously well thought of by your employers who wanted you to work even more. You were tempted to do that, and did so."

Mr McReddie said: "For a woman who has lived a law-abiding life, this has been a difficult process. She has lost her good character.

"She was being pressurised by her employer to increase her hours, and it resulted in her husband confronting them using a letter from her doctor saying she should not be invited to work any more hours because she suffers from chronic ill-health.

"She accepts a failure to act as she should have done."