A MEAT trader who fiddled benefits after his business was hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis and BSE, was spared jail yesterday.

Disabled Clifford Atkinson went out of business with debts of £24,000.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Atkinson, 57, had qualified for Disabled Person's Tax Credit in August 1999, which is only available to those who work.

Paul Cross, prosecuting for the Inland Revenue, said he ceased trading in March 2002 but, five months later, he claimed that he was working 50 hours a week and also claimed housing benefit from Sedgefield Borough Council saying that he was unemployed.

Atkinson fraudulently obtained £6,407. The Inland Revenue will take action in the civil court to recover the money.

Dan Cordey, mitigating, said that Atkinson worked hard at his business until it hit financial difficulties.

He had a meat round for a few years and he expanded taking out a £20,000 bank loan but he was hit by the BSE and foot-and-mouth crises, and was left owing money to the bank.

Mr Cordey said: "He continued to fill in documentation to obtain what used to be called Disabled Person's Tax Credit.

"This was initially a perfectly valid claim and he made the fraudulent claim in extreme financial straits when his business failed."

Recorder Simon Bourne-Arton QC told Atkinson: "What you did was thoroughly dishonest.

"Normally, those who set about defrauding the Inland Revenue of money should expect a custodial sentence because it is not the Government's money that you are taking it is our money, and it means that there is less tax to go round for the public at large.

"But I do not think it was necessary for the public to spend any more money than is necessary by having you locked up for a number of weeks."

Atkinson, of Stanhope Close, Ferryhill, was given an 18-month community rehabilitation order after he pleaded guilty to two offences of obtaining benefit by deception.