A BENEFITS cheat who helped himself to £9,250 in state handouts has been ordered to pay it all back.
Simeon Olaleye, 64, of Audley Way, Basildon, falsely claimed £250 in council tax benefit and £9,000 in pension credit.
He failed to declare a second civil service pension for himself and a civil service pension for his wife, was sentenced to a 24-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of £460 at Basildon Magistrates’ Court.
He was prosecuted by Basildon Council on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions.
Phil Turner, the council’s cabinet member for resources, said he felt the fraudster should have been sent to jail.
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