Brighton man claimed benefits while living in Eqypt

A man from Brighton has avoided prison after being found guilty of claiming £26,000 of benefits while living in Egypt.

Stanley Snowden, 62, of Whitehawk Road, failed to inform Brighton & Hove City Council and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) of his move abroad, and continued to claim housing and pension benefits.

Mr Snowden was handed a 10 week suspended prison sentence, ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, and pay back all the benefits owed along with £930 court costs.

Mr Len Batten, prosecuting on behalf Brighton & Hove City Council, said housing benefit officers received an anonymous letter stating that Snowden had never lived at Sussex Square and had moved to Egypt two-and-a-half years earlier.

Benefit officers visited Sussex Square and the current tenant confirmed that Snowden had never lived at that address.

In February of this year Snowden contacted the council to ask why his housing benefit had been stopped, but he later admitted that his claim was ‘pure fraud’.

Snowden had fraudulently claimed £15,412 in housing benefit and £10,769 Pension Credit.

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on June 15, 2011. Filed under Brighton and Hove News,Whitehawk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry