A former Cumbrian woman who failed to turn up for her trial has been convicted of fiddling benefits.

Wendy Hamilton-Browne, 61, who formerly lived in Alston, had denied two counts of dishonestly producing false statements so that she could claim just under £10,000 in housing and council tax benefits.

The offences date back to 2010.

Though she failed to turn up for her trial at the city's Rickergate Magistrates' Court, she was found guilty of the two charges she faced as the trial went ahead without her.

The charges stated that she provided Eden District Council with benefit application forms - for both Council Tax and Housing Benefit – and in doing so deliberately failed to declare all the capital she had.

All such forms urge claimants to make full and honest disclosures of any financial issues that may affect their claim.

At an earlier hearing the defendant's defence lawyer Margaret Payne told the court that Hamlton-Browne not in court because she had returned to her new home in France.

After being convicted of both offences, Hamilton-Browne was fined £350, and told to pay prosecution costs of £1,500.

As he adjourned an earlier hearing last month District Judge Gerald Chalk described the handling of the case as “a shambles.”

He expressed his extreme surprise that Hamilton-Browne was not physically in court.

“This is highly inappropriate,” said the judge. He asked the court clerk to raise the issue with local legal advisers, asking how a defendant could have their bail “extended into the ether.”