A judge has ordered an inquiry into whether a 73-year-old defendant is trying to avoid the consequences of his crimes by declaring himself bankrupt.

Ian Cahill, prosecuting, told Recorder Andrew Stubbs QC that Kenneth Richard Varley cheated his way to £44,255.88 of taxpayers’ money so that he could go on holiday and buy presents for people.

Since his crimes were discovered, he had been paying it back through the benefit authorities and by May 12, 2016, he had repaid £3,434 at £80 a week to City of York Council.

But defence barrister Alex Menary said since May 12, Varley had declared himself bankrupt on the ground he couldn’t meet his £2,000 credit card debt when he had £5,000 in a bank account. He claimed the council had told him it would now become a creditor in his bankruptcy proceedings.

Recorder Stubbs said: “It seems to me that Kenneth Varley, having helped himself to a large amount of money from the state, has engineered a situation where he thinks he can walk away from it. Once he is made bankrupt, the debt (to the benefit agencies) disappears. On one interpretation, this has been a cynical attempt to avoid the consequences of his long-standing criminality.”

He ordered Varley’s defence team to provide him with details about the pensioner’s finances from the Insolvency Service, which handles bankruptcies, his bank and anyone who had advised him to file for bankruptcy. He also warned Varley he was considering jailing him.

Varley, of Thief Lane, York, pleaded guilty to four charges of benefit fraud committed between April 1, 2002, and November 30, 2014. His case was adjourned until Friday and he was released on bail.

Mr Cahill said Varley did not tell the benefit authorities that he and his wife were both working at the University of York for the majority of the time that he claimed incapacity benefit, housing benefit and council tax benefit.He also claimed pension benefit he was not entitled to. He told investigators he needed the money to maintain his living standards.

Some of the claims had been fraudulent from the start, said the prosecution barrister.

York Crown Court heard Varley worked as a cleaner.He told a probation officer he was initially told he did not have to declare his earnings but the number of hours he worked increased and he accepted that he should have declared it.