Benefits cheat got £62,000

4:00pm Tuesday 18th September 2007

A MAN who claimed more than £62,000 of benefits to which he was not entitled escaped prison after a judge was told of his depression and attempts to pay the money back.

Oxford Crown Court heard on Monday that father-of-two Eric Jefferies, 51, of Coopers Lane, Abingdon, failed to provide the Department for Work and Pensions with a doctor's note about his depression when he began claiming incapacity benefit.

Prosecutor Charlotte Buckhaven said that without the note, Jefferies was not entitled to claim the benefits, but received more than £50,000 between October 2001 and April 2006. He also claimed income support of about £12,000, despite working part-time as a cleaner.

Emily Dummet, defending Jefferies, said he had admitted two counts of obtaining benefits by deception at the earliest opportunity and had already begun paying the cash back.

Sentencing Jefferies to 150 hours of community service, Judge Julian Hall told him: "In view of your mental health and the steps you're taking to put things in order, I don't think a prison sentence is necessary, despite the level of benefits that you obtained."