A FORMER soldier who survived an IRA bomb blast was today (Tuesday September 1) jailed for two years for fiddling benefits for almost 20 years following his medical discharge from the Army.

David Sutherland was said to have “gilded the lily, far too much,” over the extent of lingering injuries arising from the explosion, which killed two members of the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh Royal Regiment, in Northern Ireland, in 1974.

He went on to receive £131,168 as a result of fraudulent benefit claims following his return to Civvy Street, in 1992, and is now to be subject to further proceedings under the Criminal Justice Act to see what funds can be confiscated from him.

Durham Crown Court heard that Sutherland completed six military tours of Northern Ireland during almost 24-years’ Army service.

He suffered hearing loss and what is now known as post traumatic stress disorder, as a result of the IRA blast, at Sandes Soldiers’ Home, in Ballykinler, County Down, in October 1974.

Following his medical discharge from the Army, in October 1992, he was awarded a disability war pension and, a year later, an unemployability supplement available to veterans unable to work full-time, due to injuries suffered during their forces’ service.

This limited him to working 16-hours per week, but only a month later he began working full-time for Durham Police as a civilian driver and handy man.

He went on to also work in the stores, at Catterick Garrison, and as a caretaker at Darlington College, which, like his police driving job, came to an end following an accident - yet all the time claiming and receiving the unemployability supplement.

Sixty-two-year-old Sutherland, of Witton Close, Woodham Village, Newton Aycliffe, admitted four charges for fraudulent claims for £89,000 in benefits, but denied two further counts, relating to a further £42,000 received since a road accident ended his police driving job.

But a jury also found him guilty of those two charges, following a trial at the court, in July.

Kieran Rainey, mitigating, told today’s sentencing hearing that Sutherland has, “very much learned his lesson, and is unlikely to ever offend again.”

But his pleas for a suspended sentence to be passed fell on deaf ears, as Judge Simon Hickey imposed the immediate two-year custodial sentence.

Judge Hickey told Sutherland: “You knew exactly what you were doing.

“You should have informed the authorities each April and I formed the view during the trial you were dishonest and you knew it."

Speaking after the case, Department for Work and Pensions investigator Gordon Mabon said as a result of his false claims Mr Sutherland and his wife have enjoyed, “a lavish lifestyle, with expensive top end cars, foreign holidays at their villa in Cyprus, as well as tens of thousands of pounds in the bank.”