A JUDGE has today demanded progress in the case of a mum accused of pretending her young son had cancer so she could claim more than £50,000 in benefits.

At Gloucester Crown Court Judge Jamie Tabor QC said the case had dragged on far too long and a decision had to be made in the next 24 hours on what her pleas will be to the charges against her.

The 36-year-old Berkeley woman is accused of shaving her son's head and eyebrows to make it look like he was undergoing chemotherapy and she is also alleged to have forged doctors' notes.

At an earlier hearing the court was told the woman is alleged to have claimed £34,396 in disability living allowances and £18,734 in child cancer benefits despite her son, who is now nine, being in good health.

It is claimed that she kept the pretence up for three years when her son was aged between four and seven. She is also said that she told people that the boy's seven-year-old sister was suffering from a serious illness.

Prosecutor Lisa Hennessy said at the earlier hearing: "The Crown say the defendant claimed that her child had cancer and shaved his head and eyebrows and claimed her other children had various disabilies never diagnosed."

The prosecution claim any evidence of illness was forged.

The woman also faces 17 other charges including 11 of fraud, four of forgery and two of neglect.

The case follows a probe by police and the Department for Work and Pensions.

At today's hearing she was in the dock with her 42-year-old partner, who is charged with fraud and perverting the course of justice.

Her solicitor Joe Maloney said there had been a psychiatric report prepared on the woman but there were parts of it she did not agree with.

Prosecutor Julian Kesner said he had not yet seen the report and would not be able to make a decision on whether to accept any equivocal gulty plea from the woman until he had done so.

Judge Tabor said he was concerned there had been 'endless delays' in the case since the woman was first charged and taken before magistrates last October.

"It has got to stop," he said. "We have got to hurry up with this. We've got a number of highly competent police officers in court dealing with this case.

"No basis of plea will ever be resolved until they have seen the psychiatric report so I want everyone today to discuss it and we will deal with it tomorrow. We cannot go on putting this case off."

The judge adjourned the case until tomorrow and said that the charges will finally be put to the woman and her partner then for pleas to be entered.