A mother-of-three could face a custodial sentence after being found guilty of making false benefit claims, totalling £15,500.

Leicy Flisher of Plains Avenue, Maidstone, made claims for Housing Benefit, Income Support and Jobseekers Allowance on the basis she was a single mother.

But the prosecution said her partner and father of her children, Jason Kemp, was living with her.

Flisher, 29, whose children are 11, nine and two, was found guilty of three counts of dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit and one of failing to notify a change of circumstances between April 2015 and March 2017.

Representing herself, she admitted Mr Kemp had lived with her for a period after she moved into her home in 2011 and that he was there now.

But she claimed he had moved out in late 2013 after their relationship broke down.

She said he had continued to visit to see his children and and would sometimes stay over.

During the disputed time, her third child by him was conceived and born.

Jane Dawson, an investigator with the Department of Works and Pensions, and Anita Golding, a benefits manager with Maidstone council gave evidence the couple gave the same Plains Avenue address for registering the birth of their third child.

Mr Kemp gave the same location for car insurance renewals, his bank account, and when he applied for a loan to buy a £4,295 hot tub.

In her defence, Flisher said Mr Kemp was giving her address because he had no fixed abode and suggested he stayed with his mother, or on friends’ sofas.

Finding Flisher guilty, Jacquelin Curtis, chairman of the bench, said her evidence had been "inconsistent and contradictory".

She will be sentenced on November 9.

Flisher was released on unconditional bail.