Didcot magistrates give up on benefit fraud

This man has just been told to pay back the money he deliberately stole from taxpayers. The only other element in the setence is a conditional discharge - 'pay it back and don't do it again'. Where's the punishment? Where's the deterrent?

Ex-soldier Emannuel Monnay claimed housing and council tax benefit while working in London as a bus driver. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay back £1,725 with £200 costs.

Monnay, who had been living in an MoD property in Spray Road, Abingdon, moved to London in January last year, but carried on claiming benefit from the Vale of White Horse District Council.

• People convicted of benefit fraud who don't receive a custodial sentence should have to do unpaid work.
  
  Benefit thieves should also have to repay twice what they've stolen, and should not be eligible for any further benefits – including tax credits - until they have.