A woman who pretended her dead mother was still alive so her pension payments could continue for more than 20 years has been admonished.

Ruth Munro, 67, of Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, was told by a sheriff that just being prosecuted was punishment enough and she should have had better bereavement counselling.

Munro's mother Margaret McPartlin died in September 1993, aged 73.

Alloa Sheriff Court heard Mrs McPartlin was the beneficiary of two small widow's pensions, resulting from her late husband's employment with the British Steel Corporation and drinks giant Diaego.

Between 1993 and May 2015, by which time Mrs McPartlin would have been 94, Munro pretended to administrators of both pension schemes that her mother was still living.

Forms purportedly signed by her dead mother were returned and Munro allowed allowed the pensions company to believe Mrs McPartlin was still alive.

Ruairidh Ferguson, prosecuting, said: "The offence involved the accused representing to the administrators of her late mother's pension that her late mother was still alive and still receiving the pension even though her mother was dead in 1993.

"The amount received was £18,578 and that has been repaid in full to the pension companies involved.

"The offence came to light when the pensions company itself made a check on the Register of Deaths and discovered the intended beneficiary had been deceased for a number of years."

Munro was interviewed in October 2015 and was "candid throughout the process", the depute fiscal added.

She pleaded guilty to defrauding the pension schemes out of £18,577 by inducing them to continue to make payments in the belief that Mrs McPartlin was still alive.

Munro cares for her grown up son who is said to have "severe mental health difficulties".

Defence solicitor Harry Couchlin told the court it had been "a bizarre and peculiar offence".

He said: "These are sums she should never have received but she caused and allowed them to be received for reasons she can't understand, and having started, she couldn't get herself out of the situation.

"The unusual feature of the situation is that the money wasn't spent, it was retained and it was returned.

"I realise that in many circumstances given the level of the fraud, custody would be at the forefront of the court's consideration."

Sheriff David Mackie interrupted to say: "That's not in contemplation."

He then told Munro: "This is unusual. At the age of 67 you find yourself before the court for the first time, and I suspect the last, in your life.

"On the face of it, this is a serious matter because it involves a sum of money in excess of £18,000 but what is unusual is that every single penny has been repaid.

"In fact, you never touched the money because it sat in your late mother's account throughout the time it was paid to you.

"It makes me wonder that if you'd had more support through your bereavement, this would not have happened. I don't know."

The sheriff added: "In considering disposals, the court has to have regard to what lawyers call retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation.

"In this case there's little call for retribution - you're not somebody who needs to be punished for this - and this case is so unusual there's no question of imposing any kind of sentence that would act as a deterrent to anybody else."

He said background reports revealed "absolutely no risk" to Munro offending again in anyway.

The sheriff concluded: "You present no risk whatsoever to the public. It's enough that you've been put through the process of prosecution. I'll draw a line under this matter today - you're admonished."