A fraudster has been ordered to stay at home on weekends in the first curfew order to be placed on a London benefits cheat.

In one of the most unusual sentencing decisions handed down in Hounslow, Linda Brotherton, 53, has been electronically tagged and cannot leave her home in John Street, Hounslow, between 6pm and 6am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for six months.

During these hours she will be electronically tagged and risks further punishment if she leaves her home.

This sentencing option is more commonly used to curtail the antisocial behaviour of youths.

At the sentencing hearing on Monday, July 24, Feltham Magistrates also ordered Brotherton to repay everything she falsely claimed, which amounts to housing and council tax benefits of more than £6,500 over two-and-a-half years.

Coun Gerald McGregor, executive lead for finance, said: "The law courts now have a range of sentencing options open to them when dealing with this sort of behaviour.

"Benefits cheats face compensation orders, daily restrictions including curfew orders, long hours of community service and, potentially, lengthy custodial sentences.

"In this case, magistrates have chosen a punishment that will restrict this woman's liberty at weekends and, by ordering compensation, this will hit her hard in the pocket."

Brotherton was caught out when she tried to buy her council house under the Right to Buy scheme.

She wanted to buy this property jointly with her daughter and told Hounslow Homes her daughter had lived with her for two-and-a-half years.

This contradicted information given to the council's housing and benefits section and made her claims for financial assistance during the period false and illegal.

Mr McGregor said: "Benefit fraud is not a victimless crime.

"Benefits cheats steal from each one of us and the money taken from the public purse has a direct impact on the council.

"I applaud the work of our fraud investigators who continue to have success stopping these thieves in their tracks."

Brotherton was charged with two offences under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and specifically that she failed to notify Hounslow Council that her daughter lived with her.

She denied the offences but was found guilty at Brentford Magistrates' Court on Friday, June 23, and the case was adjourned for sentencing.