A woman falsely claimed £28,000 in housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support after stating she was single.

Rubina Bariwala, of Deane Church Lane, Bolton fraudulently claimed housing benefit and council tax benefit between 03/10/09 and 02/02/13 and income support between 03/10/09 and 23/12/09, by falsely claiming she was a lone parent.

However, a joint Bolton Council and Department for Work and Pensions investigation uncovered that her landlord Imran Selot was in fact the father of her children and also lived with her and their two children at the property.

He had provided false details for the tenancy agreement claiming that he lived at an address in Preston. As they held different surnames nothing seemed wrong.

However, suspicions were raised after the birth of the second child, as their son had the same surname as Mr Selot, the landlord.

Both pleaded guilty at court and they have since got married after being formally interviewed.

Bariwala was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years; ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work, and pay costs of £900 plus victim surcharge £80.

Selot, for aiding and abetting Ms Bariwala to make a false declaration on a housing benefit and council tax benefit change of address form, was given a community order for four months with a curfew requirement from 6pm to 6am. He was ordered to pay costs of £900 plus a victim surcharge of £80.

A council spokesman said: “We are committed to protecting public funds and bringing benefit cheats to justice.

“Whilst most benefit claimants are honest, there are unfortunately some who abuse the system. People pretending to live alone to get benefits is one of the most common types of benefit fraud.

“This particular case was a bit unusual as the claimant’s partner actually turned out to be her landlord. But what this case shows is that not only will we prosecute fraudulent claimants but we will go after landlords as well if we suspect that they are defrauding the system.”