A benefit cheat who illegally claimed more than £24,000 has been spared prison sentence – because he has paid every penny back.

Despite claiming he was broke, Stephen Sharpe, of Walsall, had £30,000 tucked away in savings, a court was told yesterday. Judge Nicholas Webb told the 56-year-old: “You are a man of hitherto good character who effectively cheated the public purse of £24,000 to which you were not entitled.

“Normally, someone who did that would not be leaving the court through the public entrance but in a prison van.

“But in your case you pleaded guilty and, which is quite rare, have paid every single penny back.”

Sharpe, of Little London, was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Mr Julian Harris, prosecuting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, said from May 2002 to July 2006 Sharpe was illegally claiming job seeker’s allowance and council tax and housing benefit.

Mr Harris said: “He was not entitled to this from the beginning as he had in excess of the £8,000 limit.”

Sharpe claimed a total of £24,711, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of making false representation to obtain benefits on February 18.

Mr Dean Kershaw, defending, said his client had £30,000 in savings at the time, which he later used to repay the DWP. He said he was using the benefits to buy a house but was very sorry.

Sharpe is the latest benefits cheat to be brought to justice in the Black Country. On Tuesday, Amanda Sambrooks, 48, of Branfield Close, Coseley, was given an 18-month community order for continuing to claim income support, housing benefit and council tax relief despite inheriting a cash windfall of £60,000.

On April 4, mother-of-three Joanne Wadsley, of All Saints Way, West Bromwich, was given 100 hours of unpaid work for fiddling £24,000 income support while her boyfriend was living at her house.