Heywood man guilty of dishonestly obtaining Housing Benefit

29-year old Stephen Maher, of Harwood Gardens, Heywood, was given a 12 community order with supervision, together with 60 hours unpaid work that he must carry out. The defendant was also ordered to pay £500 costs to Rochdale Borough Council when he appeared before magistrates in Rochdale on 22 July.

Maher pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly obtaining Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit totaling £922.47 between May 2007 and June 2007 and between October 2007 and January 2008. He had claimed benefits by falsely declaring that he had no income from employment, when in fact he was employed as an LGV driver.

The offences were uncovered by an investigator from Rochdale Borough Council’s fraud team. Maher failed to attend interviews with fraud investigators, and so legal action was taken against him.

Magistrates decided that community punishment was required and ordered a probation report. The Probation Service delivered a verbal report to the court, which stated that the defendant had various previous convictions but none relevant to the current case. They stated that the defendant had buried his head in the sand when contacted about this matter but had responded to the summons and attended court as required.