Former RAF man to do unpaid work after £17,000 benefits overpayment

Thursday, August 30, 2012
3:47 PM

A former RAF employee who overclaimed £17,610 in benefits after failing to declare his military pension must do 160 hours of unpaid work.

Anthony Reed, 54, of Northfields, in the west of Norwich, received council tax and housing benefit for six-and-a-half years, starting in September 2004, while his pension was being paid into an undeclared bank account. He then failed to disclose the account to authorities on three subsequent occasions.

Reed had earlier admitted one charge of making dishonest representations and three charges of making false statements to obtain benefits.

This morning, the court heard Reed was struggling with money problems and had alcohol issues, but had not believed he needed to declare the money as his incapacity benefit was not means-tested.