23-year-old Michaela Hutchings found herself with some extra cash when her local council incorrectly deposited £52k into her account.
She reportedly spent £9,000 on designer goods at Birmingham’s Bull-ring centre.
The young mum was found guilty of dishonesty and retaining a wrongly credited bank transfer.
Recorder Derek Desmond said at Stafford Crown Court: ‘A little over £52,000 was put into your account in error.’
‘That had nothing to do with you. You didn’t cause that error, but you decided to keep it.’
Michaela claims she was influenced by her boyfriend at the time who encouraged her to spend the money.
‘I have no doubt you were influenced by your partner – he wanted to spend the money,’ the recorder said.
‘You went on a spending spree and between you, you spent £9,000.
This man who spurred you on is no longer in your life – no doubt your family will be glad about that.’
Michaela reportedly wept as images of her from social networks were shown in court.
Lichfield councillor Christopher Spruce said following the hearing: ‘Last April, due to a contractor’s clerical error, £52,000 was transferred to a benefits claimant, rather than to one of our housing association partners.‘We are working with the police to recover the wrongly transferred funds.'
Spruce continued: ‘We are also working closely with our partners to put additional checks into our systems to ensure a similar payment error cannot happen again in the future.’
Michaela was sentenced to 150 hours unpaid work.