Timothy Phillips has been convicted of falsely claiming £4,365 in benefits. He was given a 12-week suspended jail term, 158 hours' unpaid work and ordered to repay £100 in costs by Redhill magistrates.
He had received housing and council tax benefit from September 2006, based on his claim he was unemployed, but in January 2008 Tandridge Council's benefits team got a tip-off that he had a full time job.
Tandridge Council claim to take an unusually hard line: "Benefit fraud is theft of public money and we will always prosecute".
The court was told that the council and the DWP will be seeking to recover the overpayment from Mr Phillips.
But the legal system should allow an order to be made at the same hearing.
htp Dave
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