A MAN has admitted cheating Basildon Council out of more than £7,000.

Kirk Gibson, 46, of Chatham Pavement, Basildon, appeared before Basildon Magistrates’ Court and admitted five charges of fraudulently claiming council tax benefit and jobseekers allowance.

Gibson was fined £120 for each offence and ordered to pay £1,788 costs and a victim surcharge of £15. He had also repaid all the money he wrongly claimed.

Gibson claimed a total of £7,535.

He cheated the council out of £2,744 between April 20, 2009 to August 26, 2012 and also claimed £4,789 of jobseekers allowance to which he was not entitled, between October 2009 and March 2012.

He was prosecuted after the authorities discovered Gibson had failed to declare as much as £95,000 he had stashed in the bank.

Stuart Sullivan, Basildon councillor responsible for resources, said: “Although, on this occasion, the defendant pleaded guilty and has since paid back all the overpayments, it doesn’t excuse the fact he lied and cheated to get money from the public purse.

“Benefit fraud is against the law and cheats will be forced to face the consequences.