A JOHNSTONE woman is due to go on trial over claims she raked in nearly £40,000 in benefits she was not entitled to, by claiming she was a single parent when she was living with her husband.


Lucy MacDonald, 29, is said to have banked £27,860 in Tax Credits and £9,385 in Housing Benefit that she was not entitled to.


She is accused of claiming the cash between April 6, 2014, and August 25 last year in Highcraig Avenue and Plover Place, both Johnstone.


Prosecutors claim that MacDonald was “knowingly concerned in fraudulent activity, undertaken with a view to obtaining payments.”


The first charge states that she claimed to be a single parent who was not living with a partner, despite “maintaining a common household with and being financially supported by James MacDonald, who was in paid employment.”


The second charge against MacDonald, who maintains her innocence, claims that she said she was a single parent who lived alone when she applied for Housing Benefit.


At a pre-trial hearing at Paisley Sheriff Court last week the case was adjourned until October for a trial to take place, with a further pre-trial hearing scheduled for earlier that month.