'A liar and a cheat' - councillor in £43,000 benefits fraud is jailed

A COUNCILLOR was branded a "dishonest liar" and a "cheat" as he was jailed for a year yesterday after a £43,000 benefits fraud.

John Holden, 62, was handed the maximum sentence possible by Sheriff Ian Abercrombie, who told him: "You are not above the law."

Holden will now be stripped of his post on Highland Council, which suffered financially because of his fraud.

Despite Holden's charity work, raising in excess of 75,000 for good causes, and many letters of support, the sheriff said jail was the only option.

The Inverness City councillor, a former labourer and union official, has been suspended by the Labour Party since the case came to light. After a 13-day trial at Inverness Sheriff Court, he was found guilty of falsely claiming 34,000 income support, council tax benefit of 6,925.24 and single occupancy of more than 2,309.73. He had claimed the benefits from Highland Council and the Department of Work and Pensions by pretending he lived alone, had no capital and was not in employment.

But he had lived for long periods with Mary Ewan, who later became his wife. Some of the most damning evidence about his living arrangements came from his own son.

Holden had amassed savings of about 250,000 during the period in question, between 2002 and 2008. Near the end of the fraud, he was also earning about 16,000 a year after being elected a councillor in May 2007 but did not disclose that income.

Sheriff Abercrombie told him: "You are not an honest man. You have deliberately and repeatedly lied over a number of years.

"The scale of your undisclosed income is simply breathtaking."