Suspended sentence for benefit cheat

A WARRINGTON man was given a 16-week jail sentence, suspended for two years, at the town’s Crown Court, after admitting two offences of benefit fraud.
Gerard Brogan, 46, of West Drive, Great Sankey, claimed benefit as a single person when in fact he was living with a partner.
The court was told Brogan falsely claimed £10,274 housing benefit, £2,969 council tax benefit and £7,934 in job seekers allowance from the borough council and the Department for Work and Pensions.
This amounted to a total £21,178 but Brogan only admitted obtaining £17,648.
In addition to the suspended prison sentence, he was ordered to do 160 hours unpaid work and pay back the full amount of £21,178.
After the hearing, Adrian Webster, the council’s benefits manager, said: “Deliberately withholding information that affects your claim is stealing. That’s why we are targeting benefit thieves. We’re closing in on benefit thieves with every means at our disposal.”