A BENEFIT fraudster who admitted swindling City of York Council out of more than £2,000 has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

York magistrates heard that Stuart Hawkins Dale, 40, of Byland Avenue, York, had denied that he was related to his landlord, Douglas North, to claim extra benefits - even though Mr North was his father-in-law.

Jonathan Cripwell, prosecuting for the council, said that Dale had lied on three applications for housing benefit and council tax benefit in January 1998, January 1999 and January 2000.

He said Dale had claimed he was not related to Mr North, when he lived with him in Roche Avenue, York. If the council had known the relationship between the men, Dale would have been excluded from the right to claim the benefits.

Because of the deception, the council had paid out £4,621.80 in benefits, £2,185.95 of which went to Dale. He said the rest of the money had gone to Mr North and the council had launched a separate application to recover the money from him.

Craig Robertson, mitigating, said Dale had been living with his father-in-law despite having split up with his wife.

He said the defendant had experienced periods of unemployment and during the times he was not working he had applied for housing and council tax benefit.

He said: "He is now back living with his wife and he is in full-time employment. His only previous convictions are minor public order offences involving alcohol.

"We are not talking about a recent offence or someone who is inherently criminal."

Dale was given a 120-hour community punishment order with £100 court costs. He was ordered to repay £2,185.95 to the council at £100 a month.

Updated: 09:34 Friday, April 04, 2003