An administrator at Watford General Hospital was fraudulently receiving council tax and housing and incapacity benefits, while claiming not to be in work.

Aleysha Sharif, 25, pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to notify a change in circumstances that she knew would affect her benefits and making false statements.

Dawn Pearson, prosecuting on behalf of Watford and Three Rivers Councils and the Department for Work and Pensions, said when Sharif began her claim for housing benefit in February 2006, she was not in work.

She however, did not inform Watford Borough Council when she found employment and went on to make false claims for benefits without telling the agencies about her job at the hospital.

As a result she had received £4,875 in overpayment, but was paying the money back.

Sharif, of Gladstone Road, Watford, has previous convictions for violence, shop lifting and had received a six-week suspended prison sentence for racially aggravated assault.

James O’Donnell, defending, said his client suffered from various disorders, for which she was receiving treatment from a number of “medical experts”.

He said she lived independently and although there was no excuse for what she had done, pointed out she received little support from her family because of her conditions and what she had done.

She had been told by her current employers she was likely to lose her new job, which she enjoys and was trying to sort her problems out, the court heard.

Chairman of the bench Tony Bailey imposed a 12-month community order during which time she will be supervised by probation.

The prosecution was awarded £200 costs.