A SELBY mother turned to benefit fraud for the second time when she ran short of money before Christmas.

Emma Friar's deception netted her £277.50 in housing and council tax benefit when she failed to tell Selby District Council that she was working, said Jim Withyman, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

In 1999, she was ordered to do 60 hours' community service and pay £500 compensation back to the taxpayer after she admitted benefit fraud.

"You appreciate now how keen and observant the authorities are who keep an eye on the state's money," Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said.

He said the mother-of-two had committed the fraud to relieve pre-Christmas debts.

He gave her a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered her to repay all the money, plus £250 prosecution costs.

Friar, 28, of Woodville Terrace, Selby, pleaded guilty to two offences of benefit fraud committed in November 2006.

For Friar, Michael Collins said she had lost her job two months earlier. She was now working and had tried to repay the money, but the council refused to accept it.