A BENEFIT fraudster who once conned a disabled 80-year-old has admitted falsely claiming more than £45,000 in handouts.

Debra Cook, 50, appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday and admitted two counts of making a false statement for benefit purposes, obtaining property by deception and two charges of obtaining an exemption from liability.

The deceptions, dating from between January 2004 and September 2009, involved Cook not declaring she was living “in a common household” with partner Sheila Jones.

In total, she fraudulently netted £45,040.26 from the Department of Work and Pensions and Oxford City Council in relation to housing benefit, council-tax benefit and income support.

The court heard Cook, of Mill Street, Oxford, had been given a suspended prison sentence in May 2009 after swindling thousands of pounds from her lover’s mother’s bank account.

On that occasion, Cook took £4,356 from Catherine Jones after the blind and housebound victim trusted her with her debit card to do shopping.

In relation to the latest offence, defence barrister Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh, said: “She has been making payments back in relation to the sums since 2009 when she was originally questioned by the Department for Work and Pensions.”

Judge Anthony King bailed Cook ahead of sentence on December 9, but said: “The court is bound to be looking at a custodial sentence.”