A 73-year-old woman accused of dishonestly claiming £69,000 in benefits she wasn’t entitled to has been found guilty by a jury.

Eileen Ray claimed on the forms that she wasn’t living with a partner at her home in Hogarth Road, Ipswich, when she was living with her husband Peter Ray, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Fraud investigators who carried out surveillance on Ray’s home saw her husband regularly coming and going from the property and discovered he had given Hogarth Road as his address to employers and loan companies. During Ray’s trial the court heard that a housing officer who visited her home found a number of improvements had been made to the property including a new kitchen and bathroom and there was also a conservatory, a loft conversion and a log cabin. Ray said her husband was only at the house in the day to help her after she injured her back.

Ray was warned she could face jail when sentencing takes place.