A WOMAN carried on drawing her mother's old-age pension for nearly 12 years after she died, a Cheshire court has heard.

Whenever asked by benefit officials where her mother was, Winifred Chadwick claimed she was holidaying in Ireland.

But she claimed that throughout the time she had been hooked on tranquillizers and did not realise what she was doing.

Yesterday at Knutsford Crown Court the mother-of-two pleaded guilty to 12 specimen charges of obtaining benefit by deception.

The 55-year-old was given a nine-month prison term suspended for two years with a condition she undergoes treatment for her addiction. John Oates, prosecuting, said over the years she drew a total of £43,643 while at the same time her former partner, Peter Kavanagh, was claiming income support.

The court heard Chadwick claimed that even before her mother died in 1989 she was severely addicted to a now-banned tranquillizer.

Stuart Neale, defending, said: "She says she has been on another planet and the time has passed in a haze."

He said she was still severely addicted, often taking more than 100 tablets a day and often tricking GPs into issuing extra prescriptions or buying from dealers.

Sentencing her, Judge Geoffrey Kilfoil said for over 10 years she had cheated her fellow citizens and the state.