A woman accused of defrauding the group which handed out grants after the Storm Desmond floods has gone on trial at Carlisle Crown Court.

Nicola Moore, 33, stands charged with two counts of fraud. She is alleged to have made two false representations to the Cumbria Community Foundation, which launched the county's flood recovery appeal last December.

Moore has pleaded not guilty to making a claim for flood-damaged belongings which she allegedly did not own. She has also denied lodging asecond application in respect of property she had already claimed and received money for.

Moore's trial got under way at the crown court yesterday.

Opening the case, prosecutor Claire Larton said Moore accepted making two claims to the Cumbria Community Foundation. The first was made on December 15 for a number of items which included a cooker, carpets, washing machine and a fridge freezer.

Having claimed £2,400, she received a payment of £1,250.

"It is the Crown's case that the claim was, in part, fraudulent because the items detailed in that application belonged not, in fact, to the defendant, Nicola Moore, but to her landlord, the owner of the (rented) property," said Miss Larton.

Landlord Elizabeth Ross gave evidence to the court. Mrs Ross stated that she owned the respective items and "never said" at any time that Moore should treat them as her own.

In January, Moore lodged a second claim. "Let me be clear that there were no more floods between the dates. This claim was in respect of the same property, the same flood damage that had occurred," Miss Larton told the jury.

"It included a number of additional items. Interestingly it also included a number of the same items again."

No money was paid to her after foundation representatives became suspicious. Moore was contacted and asked to repay £750 to the group in respect of the first settlement but, the court heard, she failed to do so.

Police were contacted and Moore, how of Windsor Road, Workington, was interviewed.

She said she believed the carpets and appliances which were the subject of the first claim had been "given" to her by the landlord.

Miss Larton said Moore was also asked by police about the second application, made in January. The prosecutor told jurors: "That was, she would say, a "genuine mistake" and not dishonesty on her part."

The trial continues.