THE life of a proud former soldier who survived an IRA bomb blast is in tatters after he was convicted of benefit fraud totalling £131,000.

David Sutherland completed six military tours of Northern Ireland and survived the bombing of Sandes Soldiers’ Home in Ballykinler, County Down in October 1974, which claimed the lives of two members of the 1st Battalion of the the Duke of Edinburgh Royal Regiment.

But the 62-year-old, of Witton Close, Woodham, County Durham, was left suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hearing loss and other blast injuries and was discharged from the Army on medical grounds in June 1992.

He admitted falsely claiming more than £89,000 in benefits but denied another £42,000 he has received since he was further injured in an accident while working as a civilian driver for Durham Police was also fraudulent.

However, he was found guilty of the extra two charges, taking the total to six, by a jury following a trial at Durham Crown Court today (Wednesday, July 29).

Judge Simon Hickey adjourned the case to allow the probation service to prepare a report on Sutherland.

Following his Army discharge, Sutherland was classed as 100 per cent disabled and awarded a disability war pension.

Later, he was granted an unemployment supplement available to veterans unable to work full-time due to injuries suffered in the services.

Prosecutor Ian Mullarkey said this allowed him to work for up to 16 hours a week.

But in November 1993 he began working full-time as a police driver and handyman and later applied for supplementary benefit, on the basis he had suffered a relapse of his PTSD.

Subsequently he worked as a storekeeper at Catterick Garrison and a caretaker at Darlington College, until he was medically retired in February 2012 following a fall at work.

Mr Mullarkey said he had fiddled the system and committed “almost two decades of dishonesty and fraud”.

Sutherland will return to Durham Crown Court to be sentenced on Thursday, August 20.