A £45,000 benefit scrounger has been told by a judge to get a job and start paying back the money.
Graham Midgley, 47, was given a six-month chance to stay out of jail at Bradford Crown Court last Thursday.
Midgley, from Keighley, cheated the taxpayer out of £45,420 over five years.
He dishonestly claimed £23,982 in Housing Benefit, £14,520 in Income Support, £3,488 in Jobseekers Allowance and £3,430 in Council Tax Benefit between September, 2002, and October, 2007.
Midgley pleaded guilty to four “roll-up” charges of failing to notify a change of circumstances, making false representations and making false statements.
Prosecutor Stephen Grattage told the magistrates the claims were honest to begin with but Midgley, who was a lone parent with dependent children, failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions when his wife, Patricia, had moved back to the family home in Alder Avenue, Keighley.
Mr Grattage said Mrs Midgley, who refused to be interviewed by benefit officers, was working.
Midgley’s barrister Kitty Taylor said he had the offer of work and could start to repay money owed.
The judge, Recorder Paul Isaacs, deferred sentence for six months. He said: “You’ve told me you are going to get a job. Let’s see if you do.”
He told Midgley that if he began work and stayed out of trouble he would not go to prison.
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