A 24-YEAR-OLD Rowley Regis mother-of-three who fiddled more than £22,000 in benefits has been placed on Supervision for 12 months.

Kimberly Adams maintained to the Department of Work and Pensions she was a single mother with no income - Amy Jackson, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But at the time of offending she was living with her partner - the father of her children who was in employment - she told the court.

She said the benefit claims made by Adams had not been fraudulent from the outset because she had been separated from her partner but there came a time when they were reconciled.

Adams, of Springfield Lane, admitted benefit fraud involving £22,341 and Recorder Peter Ievins told her she had been wrong not to inform the authorities her partner had come back into her life.

Michael Anning, defending, said Adams had lead an unblemished life in difficult circumstances and she accepted she had been wrong for allowing the claims to continue.

Mr Anning told the court: “The money did not go to fund an extravagant lifestyle - far from it."