A fraudster who claimed £30,000 in benefits while she had 10 times that amount in the bank is to face a probe into her lifestyle.

Helen McNicol carried on claiming taxpayers' money in a variety of benefits after inheriting almost £300,000 and now faces being sent to jail.

A court heard the Crown is also seeking to claw back the stolen benefit money under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

McNicol, 41, will now be investigated over the nature of her spending and whether or not she was living a wealthy lifestyle while fraudulently claiming benefit.

Perth Sheriff Court heard how McNicol continued claiming benefits every week for more than two years while she had a fortune sitting in the bank.

McNicol has claimed more than £30,000 in housing benefit, income support and council tax since 2009.

But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) began to investigate jobless McNicol after an anonymous tip-off about her wealth.

The probe discovered she was frequently moving large sums of cash between a string of bank accounts set up in her name.

Investigators established she had been claiming benefits after inheriting £97,000 from her father's estate after he died.

They also found out she was still claiming as recently as last year even though she knew she was about to receive a further £200,000 windfall. McNicol, of Crieff, admitted illicitly claiming £23,012.19 in income support between May 7, 2009 and September 9 last year.

She also admitted that between May 11, 2009 and September 18, 2011 she fraudulently claimed £5358.20 in housing benefit and £1651.97 in council tax.

McNicol admitted failing to give notification to the DWP that there had been a change in her financial circumstances. The con came to light when someone contacted the Government department in April last year to say McNicol had been the beneficiary of a large estate two years earlier.

A DWP source said: "The person revealed that she had inherited almost £100,000 from her father's estate in 2009. They also reported she was on the verge of getting another £200,000 and was an awful lot better off than she claimed to be.

"The records showed she had purported to be a struggling mother-of-two with total savings in the bank of just £200.

"It seemed to have slipped her mind she had £300,000 more in the bank than she had originally stated in her claim forms.

"There were a lot of different bank accounts and thousands of pounds were being taken out on regular occasions. I'm sure the average taxpayer would be disgusted." McNicol will be sentenced next month.

Fiscal depute Catherine Fraser told Perth Sheriff Court the Crown was also planning to seek confiscation of sums of money from McNicol.