A MOTHER of five claimed £8,836 in sick pay from a hospital while continuing to work at another job.

Mary Hill, 61, was signed off from her cleaning job at Moorgreen Hospital, West End, with stress and depression for more than a year following the death of her husband.

However, while claiming sick pay from Southampton City Primary Care Trust, she continued to turn up to her second job, as a part-time cleaner at a care home. She was caught after colleagues saw her car parked outside Oakwood Residential Home, Bitterne, Southampton.

At Portsmouth Crown Court, Hill, of Beauworth Avenue, Harefield, Southampton, admitted two counts of false accounting by declaring she had not worked while making claims.

In giving her an 18-month conditional discharge, Recorder Jonathan Black said he would not order her to repay any cash because of her strained financial situation.

But the legal door was left open for Southampton City PCT to launch civil proceedings to get its money back, and it said that it will be seeking to recover its losses.