A DISABLED woman from who went on exotic holidays to Goa while cheating the benefits system out of £16,500 has escaped jail.

Mary Day pleaded guilty to five counts of dishonestly failing to notify the Department of Work and Pensions of a change in circumstances affecting her ability to claim benefits.

The 60-year-old of High Street, Swanage, who was claiming income support as well as disability allowance, went on a string of trips for more than three months at a time to the Indian resort without informing the authorities and continuing to receive the state handouts.

Day also had undeclared savings of £27,000 which meant she received overpayments between November 2009 and March 2014 in breach of the Social Security Administration Act. The threshold for savings while claiming such benefits is £16,000.

She had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing on March 18, before the case was adjourned until April 10 for sentencing at Bournemouth Magistrates Court.

District Judge Stephen Nicholls sentenced Day to 12 weeks in custody suspended for 12 months.

He said: “You have been credited with the guilty plea and I have taken into account that you have no previous convictions. Clearly this is rather a large sum of money which you have claimed. But you pleaded guilty to all matters and monies have been repaid.

“This does cross the custody threshold and I will impose a sentence of 12 weeks custody suspended for 12 months.”

Day was also ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £80.

Speaking after the case, a Department of Work and Pensions spokesperson said Day had claimed a number of income based benefits while spending long periods abroad.

She added: “Benefit payments should go to those who really need them.

“We know it’s a small minority of people who commit benefit fraud, but deliberately not informing us of a change in your condition that may affect your claim is a crime.

“Don’t wait for our fraud investigators to find you - tell us of a change now. If you suspect someone of fraudulently claiming benefits, then call our National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854 440."