A JURY has retired to decide whether a former soldier who survived an IRA bomb blast has dishonestly claimed £42,000 in benefits he was not entitled to.

David Sutherland has already admitted falsely claiming more than £85,000 in benefits since his medical discharge from the Army in June 1992.

However, he denies fraudulent claims made following a car accident while working as a civilian driver for Durham Police.

The veteran of six Northern Ireland tours, suffered hearing loss, and other injuries, including post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), in the IRA bombing which claimed the lives of two members of the Duke of Edinburgh Royal Regiment at the Sandes Soldiers’ Home, in Ballykinler, in October 1974.

Durham Crown Court heard that he applied for and was granted an unemployment supplement to his pension for former personnel unable to work full-time due to injuries suffered in the services.

This allowed him to work up to 16 hours a week, but he began working as a civilian for Durham Police on a full-time basis.

During his trial the 62-year-old told a jury that a 1996 car accident had unlocked memories of the bomb blast horror and had triggered a relapse of his ptsd.

But the prosecution argued it wasn’t his Army service that caused a worsening of his ptsd but the car accident.

Summing up today (Tuesday, July 28), prosecutor Ian Mullarkey said: “It was the accident which caused him to be unfit for work, because the day before the accident he was working full time without any obvious difficulty and would not doubt have continued in that job but for the accident.

"The defendant knew he shouldn’t have been working and knew the road traffic accident was the cause of his incapacity."

Kieran Rainey, defending, urged the jury to leave aside the question of dishonesty and consider whether Sutherland was entitled to the benefit.

He said: “Had he not joined the Army to serve his and country he would not have ptsd today .

“By bringing these alleged offences to trial they (the prosecution) want to take the most restrictive approach to eligibility here.

“They want you to apply a narrow interpretation for this benefit to close the door on goodness knows on how many veterans out there.”

Sutherland of Witton Close, Woodham Village, Newton Aycliffe, admits four counts relating to fraudulent claims, but denies two.