£55,000 benefits fraudster is jailed for six months
A father of eight who pocketed almost £55,000 in a long-running benefit fraud has been locked up for six months.
Rudy Comrie conned Department of Work and Pensions officials from November 2003 to September 2012 into believing he was a single parent.
In reality he was living as man and wife with his partner Mandy Williams who had a job, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
As a result the 51-year-old 'stay at home dad' collected council tax allowance together with Jobseekeer's allowance to which he was not entitled, said Mr Mark Jackson, prosecuting.
His partner – who used the same address as him on numerous official documents and is the mother of his three youngest children – started work in September 2003, continued the prosecutor.
Comrie illegally claimed housing and council tax benefits from the outset and also unlawfully picked up Jobseeker's Allowance after November 2009. As a result he received he was paid a total of £54,956 to which he was not entitled.
Miss Beth Crocker, defending, said his children were by two different women and were aged between two and 28.
He was a 'stay at home dad' while his current partner worked nights, she added.
Comrie from Waterfall Close, Smethwick also had a previous conviction for theft by an employee in the late 1990s, the court heard.
He pleaded guilty to the benefit fraud and was sent to prison by Judge Stephen Ward, who told him: "You spent more than a decade behaving in a dishonest fashion."
