Benefits cheat had £25,000 in the bank

A benefits cheat pocketed more than £11,000 while he had up to £30,000 in bank accounts and was working for a heart charity, a court heard.

Lee Parker, aged 36, of Beech Road, Willenhall, falsely claimed Jobseeker's Allowance for over three years after failing to tell the authorities about a change in his circumstances.

Walsall Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Parker had also bought a property in Wolverhampton for £63,000 while he was still claiming the benefit.

Mrs Catherine McTigue, prosecuting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, said Parker had falsely claimed £11,041 in Jobseeker's Allowance between June 2007 and February last year.

She said the offences had not been fraudulent from the outset as Parker, had started claiming the benefit in 2003.

He later failed to declare information which would have affected his benefit payments, including that he was working as a van driver for the British Heart Foundation.

The offences came to light from a data matching exercise designed to detect fraudulent and incorrect payments of benefit. Mrs McTigue added: "He had between £25,000 and £30,000 in accounts. He also failed to declare he purchased a property for £63,000 in July 2010."

She said when he was interviewed he admitted being in debt and knew he should have told the DWP when his circumstances changed.

Parker admitted three counts of failing to notify the DWP of a change in circumstances.

In mitigation, Mr Ian Henery told the court: "My client has paid back the full amount. He has no previous convictions." Parker was bailed for a pre-sentence report and is due to be sentenced today.