Spared jail: Wolverhampton City Council crook in £32k fake claimants benefits fraud

Anthony McHale, who had held the post with Wolverhampton City Council for 24 years, turned to crime in a desperate bid to get out of debt

The 56-year-old set up and managed six false housing benefit payment accounts for fictitious people with fake national insurance numbers, said Miss Debbie Gould, prosecuting.

Each was in the name of a woman who was said to have a partner called A McHale and all the fortnightly payments went into a bank account of that name.

Miss Gould revealed: "He set them up on his own, completed the application forms himself and kept a close eye on them.

"All the claimants were said to be working and though there was no need for anybody else to get involved."

The devious assessor closed down the accounts after relatively short periods and opened a fresh one with a name of a different woman claimant to prevent detection, the court heard.

But he had to use genuine addresses for the scam to work – and that was his downfall. The landlord of a house in Bushbury Road, Heath Town, called the Wolverhampton City Council benefits department in March last year to complain about housing benefit correspondence being sent to the property for a non-existent tenant.

The call was taken by McHale who 'deflected attention' by falsely suggesting that council staff had been sent to the address to verify the claim – and continued to pocket the cash.

But when the landlord phoned the department again on September 24 because nothing had happened the call was taken by a colleague and inquiries started.

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, said McHale had built up massive debts by 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' with five or six credit cards but had kept this secret from his wife.

All but a couple of hundred pounds of the benefit officer's £22,000 wages went on paying off the debt that at one stage stood at £80,000 it was claimed.

McHale, from Broad Lane North, Willenhall, who has no children and a working wife lives in a 'modest' two bedroomed house, the court heard.

He is now jobless after being sacked and will spend his pension pot paying back the stolen money, said Mr Woolhouse. McHale, of previous good character, admitted six charges of fraud committed between August 2012 and September 2014 involving a total of £32,326 and was given a 20 month prison sentence suspended for two years with 300 hours unpaid work.

Judge Mary Stacey told him: "You are a dishonest, fraudulent crook who used your specialist knowledge to commit this crime."