A YORK man claimed Income Support although his wife had been awarded £550,000 compensation for being injured in a traffic accident, the city's crown court heard today.

Mohammed Humayan Kabir, 58, also concealed a bank account as he made 28 claims over seven-and-a-half months, and did not tell the authorities about the £550 rent his family was receiving from their former home.

Today he was given a six-month prison term, suspended for two years. After passing the sentence, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, learned that Kabir had not told the court authorities about his wife's money when applying for legal aid.

"I have a sense of not getting to the truth here in terms of the defendant's financial position," he said.

Earlier, he had told Kabir that he had stolen from the general public and that a prison sentence was inevitable to deter others.

But he suspended it after hearing that Kabir's wife was dependant for all her daily care upon her husband, who looked after her 24 hours a day, as well as doing all the fetching and carrying that their three children needed. Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said that his family commitments meant Kabir could not work and that he had no income of his own.

Kabir, of Earswick Chase, Fosslands Park, north of York, pleaded guilty to three charges of benefit fraud and asked for 25 more to be taken into consideration.

Rodney Jameson, prosecuting, said the benefit claimed in the charges amounted to £4,001 between September 1999 and March 2000. The benefit authorities were taking their own steps to reclaim the money.

Kabir was disputing figures which related to periods longer than the seven-and-a-half months of his criminal fraud. Referring to the criminal matters, Mr Jameson said Kabir had not told the authorities about an Abbey National account which contained sums of up to £2,500; or the £550,000 his wife got in compensation; or the house where they used to live in St John's Street, from which the household received £550 in rent after they moved to Fosslands Park.

Mr Stranex said the house belonged to Kabir's wife and that he had been unaware of the amount of damages she was receiving, despite an attempt to find out through her solicitor. But Kabir accepted that he was aware of some money coming into the household when they bought their current home.

Judge Hoffman delayed deciding how much Kabir should pay towards prosecution and defence costs until the defence had got more information about his means.

Updated: 14:22 Monday, May 27, 2002