Benefits bosses have vowed to continue rooting out dishonest claimants after the high-profile prosecution of a Carlisle city councillor.

Father-of-two Barrie Osgood, 44, this week resigned as the city's councillor for Castle ward after he was convicted of fraudulently claiming £3,500 in housing benefit from the authority he represented.

He had denied the offence but was convicted after a trial.

After being sentenced by a district judge at the city's Rickergate courts complex, he issued a grovelling apology and conceded he should resign in the best interests of the council, the Labour party, and the public.

Just days later, a former Alston woman, Wendy Hamilton-Browne, 61, was convicted of two similar offences – the result of her dishonestly claiming £10,000 in Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit.

Reacting to the two cases, the Department for Work & Pensions issued a stern warning to others tempted to cheat the system.

A spokeswoman said: “Only a small minority of benefit claimants are dishonest.

“But cases like these show how we are rooting out the unscrupulous minority who are cheating the system and diverting taxpayers’ money from those who really need it.

“We are determined to find those we suspect of abusing the welfare system by following up on tip-offs and undertaking surveillance.”

During Osgood's trial, the court heard how he had correctly filled out most of the relevant form – processed by Carlisle City Council - but failed to reveal he owned and was renting out a house in Currock.

This was despite the form giving him three chances to do so.

As a result, he was wrongly paid £3,533 in housing benefit over 11 months.

Defence lawyer Geoff Clapp told District Judge Gerald Chalk that Osgood felt remorse to a remarkable degree.

The lawyer said his client repaid the overpaid benefit within 14 days of him being interviewed by DWP investigators.

Mr Clapp said Osgood suffered a catalogue of personal problems in the months before filling out the form – including two bereavements, suspected heart trouble, depression, and his wife getting a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Osgood, of Lamb Street, Upperby, claimed he made an “honest mistake” and was not thinking straight because of his mental health issues when he submitted the form in June, 2014 - before he was a councillor.

On the form, responding to a question about whether he or his partner had income he had not declared, Osgood ticked the "No" box.

When investigators challenged him, he said: "If I was going to deceive anyone I think I'd have done something a bit better than that."

The trial prosecutor Andy Travis told him: "You lied because you knew you would not get benefit if you told the truth. You fraudulently embezzled £3,000 of rate payers' money."

As the case concluded, Osgood told Judge Chalk: “I would like to apologise to the Crown, yourself, the magistrates, and the Department for Work and Pensions; and also to the Labour Party, the Labour group at Carlisle City Council and to the constituents who put their trust in me; and to my family, who have endured 11 months of stress and uncertainty.”

Osgood was given 180 hours of unpaid work, with £770 costs, and a £60 victim surcharge.

Meanwhile, Hamilton-Browne had denied two counts of dishonestly producing false statements to claim £10,000 in benefits.

Though she failed to turn up for her trial in Carlisle, she was found guilty of the two charges she faced.

Those offences dated back to 2010. An earlier hearing heard she was now living in France.

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

The DWP spokeswoman added: "If you suspect someone of fraudulently claiming benefits, then call our National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854 440."