Jailed: Ex-miner benefit cheat claimed £150,000 in 15 years
An ex-miner who illegally claimed £150,000 in benefits – even lying to his wife about the source of the cash – has been jailed for 18 months.
Kevin Molineux, of Hednesford, pocketed income support, housing benefit and council tax relief – without revealing that he had a mineworkers' pension – for 15 years.
He lied to his wife about where the money – the equivalent of £10,000 a year tax free – was coming from, Stafford Crown Court heard.
The 56 year old, of Blewitt Street, admitted four charges of benefit fraud from July 1999 to last March. Judge Paul Glenn said: "The victims in this case are the honest taxpayers and people who can't obtain public funding through benefit cheats like you. Your claims were dishonest from the start, you told the probation officer that you were struggling financially at the start."
The judge said the final total for the fraud may be an under-calculation because records do not go back as far as the start of Molineux's claims.
In a basis of plea, Molineux said he left the mining industry due to ill health and when he started receiving payment from British Coal he was unsure whether it was sickness benefit or a pension. He accepted, however, that he was being dishonest.
Mr Peter McCartney, prosecuting, said the amounts Molineux claimed were £109,359 income support between July 1999 and March 2014 and an estimated £40,000 in housing benefit and council tax relief between July 2003 and last March. He claimed the benefits on the basis that he had no other source of income and was incapable of working.
He failed to disclose to the Department for Work and Pensions and Cannock Chase Council that he was in receipt of a mineworker's pension.
The fraud was discovered when someone tipped off the department.
Mr Paul Lamb, defending, said: "He knew that he was in receipt of some form of payment and while it is clear there was some sort of confusion as to whether it was a pension or sickness benefit, he failed to declare it.
"His wife had serious illnesses and he is required to care for her. The impact if he is given an immediate custodial sentence will affect not only him, but his wife."
