A SON who spent his blind, infirm father’s care allowance on high living has been spared jail because he is a carer for other people.

Benefit officials found John Holt locked in his Selby home when they tried to question his son David Holt about the £48,000 paid to him to help fund 24-hour care for his father for four years, Mehran Nassiri, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

The son had spent the money on an £8,000 Rolex watch, hotel stays, the running costs of a flat in Manchester, a Sky Television subscription and betting, among other items.

Judge Neil Davey QC told the son: “You did it to enrich yourself and to spend the money you dishonestly obtained to improve the quality of your life.”

He gave him a 21-month prison sentence, but suspended it for two years on condition he did 250 hours’ unpaid work because since the fraud was discovered, he had continued to work and the people he cared for had produced “glowing references” for him.

Rachael Landin, defending, said her client had lived with his father and cared for him. He couldn’t explain why he had committed the offences.

Holt, formerly of Selby and now of Colescliffe Road, Scarborough, pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud committed between August 3, 2009, and June 25, 2013.

Mr Nassiri said the father was assessed as needing 24-hour care from 2006. Initially, the benefit agencies paid a York organisation directly to care for Mr Holt.

But in August 2009, that changed when the son said he was unhappy with their service, though it didn’t receive any complaints from the Holts, and the benefits were changed to an independent living allowance that was paid to a special account run by the son from which carers were paid.

Between August 3, 2009, and June 25, 2013, he received £48,058 from North Yorkshire County Council and the Department of Work and Pensions.

The son failed to provide regular financial documents about the account, the two carers to whom the money was allegedly paid could not be traced and investigators discovered the address was rented by the son who paid its bills.

* County Councillor Carl Les, North Yorkshire’s executive member for central services, said. “This money was paid in good faith for the care of a vulnerable resident and this has been a protracted and high-value fraud. Our success in bringing this case to court shows that dishonesty does not pay.”