A woman from Lichfield has been ordered to pay back outstanding money that was wrongly transferred to her bank account by Lichfield Council.

According to Inside Housing:

The intended recipient of the money was 28,000-home Bromford Housing Association.

Michaela Hutchings, a 23-year-old single mother from Lichfield, Staffordshire admitted dishonesty and retaining a wrongly credited bank transfer at Stafford Crown Court but avoided a prison sentence by pleading guilty. She was caught by police on 24 April last year but still owes nearly £6,000 to the council.

Ms Hutchings was given a 12-month community order and must carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work. She has until Christmas to repay the remaining £5,700 or she will face a 20-month prison sentence.

On Saturday, the Mirror published an interview with Ms Hutchings where she said that she was being punished ‘for being beautiful’. The paper ran the story online with a slideshow of photographs of Ms Hutchings