A PENSIONER failed to give notification when he returned to work after being offered a job, a court heard.

It resulted in John Archer continuing to receive pension credits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as well as Council Tax and housing benefits from Durham County Council.

Durham Crown Court was told his fraudulent claims for both continued for more than four years, while he was working full-time, 40-hours per week, earning £8.85 an hour as a JCB and plant driver for a local heating company.

Liam O’Brien, prosecuting, said the fact he was working full-time meant he was no longer eligible for the various benefits he was still receiving.

During the period of his fraudulent claim, from April 2010 to September 2014, he was spoken to by a DWP compliance officer and failed to inform them he was working.

Mr O’Brien said the total overpayment was £20,287.72.

Seventy-three-year-old Archer, of Wareham Way, Sunnybrow, near Willington, admitted two counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances relating to benefit claims.

Lewis Kerr, for Archer, said the claims were, initially, legitimate and he was entitled to the benefits until he took up the job offer.

But, he said deductions are now being made, at source, on the defendant’s pension credits and other benefits, to compensate, “the public purse”, placing a burden on him potentially until the year 2029.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was “depressing” that at his age in life Archer should be appearing in court to answer for such offences.

He imposed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered Archer to pay a £80 statutory surcharge.