Curfew and tag for fraudulent benefit claimant

A BENEFITS cheat illegally claimed £6500 despite leaving his NHS job with a generous lump sum and a pension.

Disabled Roy Moule claimed he was so deaf he did not hear what officials told him when he filled in the benefit form.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that the 62-year-old was paid more than £130 a week in pension credits for more than 16 months because he kept his NHS pension a secret.

Kate Hart, prosecuting, said Moule was receiving disability living allowance, income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit when he claimed pension credit.

Moule, of Bathgate, West Lothian, pleaded guilty to failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions of a change affecting his entitlement to pension credit.

Neil Stewart, defending, said his client had been repaying the cash from his benefits since October 17, 2011.

Sheriff Martin Edington sentenced Moule to be electronically tagged on a 7pm-to-7am curfew for 150 days.

He said: “This is a serious offence in which you obtained a substantial amount of money over a very lengthy period of time.”