Benefit cheat didn't reveal wife was living with him

Benefit cheat Asim Akhtar pocketed £5,633.56 in public handouts - after failing to tell the authorities his wife had moved in with him.

The 26-year-old dad-of-two had initially legitimately claimed housing benefit and income support when he was a single parent.

But he did not inform Stoke-on-Trent City Council or the Department for Works and Pensions that his wife had started living with him.

The fraud was committed between April 2018 and March 2019.

Now Akhtar has been handed a six-month community order at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.

Prosecutor Sue Hayers said: “His wife went to live with him in April 2018 and notified her new address to her bank. That information was passed to the benefits agency and the situation was discovered.”

The defendant initially denied the offences. But he later requested a further interview and accepted his wrongdoing. He confirmed his wife had been living with him from April 2018 and he had continued to claim income support and housing benefit.

Akhtar, from Fenton, pleaded guilty to two offences of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances affecting his entitlement to benefits.

In an interview with a probation officer the defendant accepted he had made a conscious decision not to notify the change in circumstances. He now works as a security guard at a casino and Lidl.

Kate Preston, mitigating, said the defendant has been trying to support his wife from a young age.

She said: “It was a love marriage rather than an arranged marriage that was expected of him by his parents and the wider family. Because he chose that life he was ostracised and they had no support.

“She was put in a women’s refuge for her own safety so her family would not know where she was.

“He made a legitimate claim at the outset to house him and look after the two children he was raising alone with his wife in the refuge. They rekindled their relationship and she moved in and he has not promptly notified that she has moved in. It was not to fund a lavish lifestyle. This was to feed children and keep a roof over their head.”

The community order includes a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement. He must also pay £325 in court fines and costs.

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