A COUPLE who plundered almost £200,000 in benefits they weren't entitled to have walked free from court.

Fatima Bibi claimed to be a single mum and pocketed income support, housing benefit, and council tax relief from the public purse.

But in reality the 39-year-old was living with taxi driver Abdul Shopon, 41, who she had married in a Moslem ceremony.

And the house where they lived was owned firstly by Bibi's brother Ayub Ali and then her husband, who both received the rent from the council.

David Scutt, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Bibi first started to claim income support as a single mum in London in April 2002.

Less than a year later she had moved to a house on Broad Street which was used as a home address for both her and her husband.

Because she was on income support she automatically qualified for housing and council tax benefits.

However she failed to tell the authorities that the house she was living in belonged to her brother, not even mentioning it to investigators when she was questioned.

Over the next 10 years the council paid almost £70,000 to her landlord, starting at £575 a month raising to £800 in 2010 when Shopon was the owner of the house.

Mr Scutt said had the family connection been known then she would have been disqualified from receiving housing benefit.

As well as the link to the landlord she was also living with Shopon, who is the father of four of her six children, and not a lone parent.

The court heard the council used the address for his taxi permit as well as a resident's parking permit and when he got British citizenship in June 2010.

He also registered his car there, used it for insurance, and even served a curfew at the property when he was convicted of another bout of benefit fraud in 2014.

Mr Scutt said between February 2003 and March 2013 she received £100,047.89p in income support she was not entitled to, £69,412.89p housing benefit and £7,673.34p council tax relief.

He said that Shopon admitted aiding and abetting her between 2010 and 2013, with the total he was involved in being no more than £44,250.

Bibi, now living in the house next door in Broad Street, pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstance to obtain benefit.

Shopon, who is still living in the Broad Street house, admitted two counts of aiding and abetting benefit fraud.

Amanda O'Mara, for Bibi, said that it was an on/off relationship between the couple punctuated with her client suffering domestic abuse at the hands of her husband.

Although the incidents had not been formally reported to the police she said that was not uncommon, especially in the Bangladeshi community.

She said that having two children from a previous marriage she felt under pressure from her family to make the new one work out.

James Haskell, for Shopon, said that his client had been convicted of lesser offences over a short period and with a smaller amount of money.

He said he was still working as a mini cab driver and still saw his children, actually living with his 20-year-old step daughter.

Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC told Bibi: "I am satisfied that you were acting under the influence of another or others. The precise nature of that influence is not clear to me.

"It is plain as a result of these influences that they affected your health and in particular your mental health. You were, and probably still are, a vulnerable person."

He imposed an 18-month jail term suspended for two years with supervision for a year.

The judge told Shopon: "I am quite satisfied that you were living at the address longer than you are prepared to admit. You were instrumental in the benefit being obtained."

He imposed an eight-month jail term suspended for two years with a 200-hour of unpaid work order.