A DISABLED man fraudulently claimed almost £20,000 in pension credits which he spent on home improvements, a court was told.

David Berry received £280 a month from the Department of Work and Pensions over a five and-a-half year period between August 2008 and February this year, an overpayment which totalled £19,262.

The 66-year-old made a dishonest statement in order to claim the pension credits, failing to declare that he was already in receipt of two occupational pensions.

Prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, Peter Sabiston said: “This was a fraudulent claim from the outset.”

Mr Sabiston said the defendant, of Lothian Road, Hartlepool, used the cash to keep his property in reasonable repair, having originally used it to pay his mortgage.

Berry, who entered the courtroom in a motorised scooter, stopped working in 2001 through ill health. He admitted two counts of fraud.

Victoria Lambelle, mitigating, said he “bitterly regretted” the fraudulent claim. She said he suffered from arthritis and was in very poor physical health.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton told Berry: “This is a form of cheating that hurts the public purse.

“Every penny you take like this from the benefit pot means less to go around for people more deserving than you.”

The judge said if he were to jail Berry, his condition would present the authorities with a number of problems and also said it would cost a lot more money to put him behind bars.

He gave Berry a 14 week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, which he said was a more constructive way of dealing with him.