Lottery winner jailed

David Smith, 51, must have thought he was a very lucky man when he won £164,633 on the National Lottery on 17th March 2005, but that luck has now run out as he has been jailed for not declaring his win and continuing to claim benefits.

It has been revealed that he opened a separate bank account for his winnings and continued to claim a total of £21,700 in income support, housing benefit and council tax between March 2005 and April 2009. Following routine computer checks the secret bank account was discovered by council officials. Mr Smith first of all claimed that the win was his fathers, for who he cared for, and that he had just collected the winnings on his behalf. This was checked with Camelot though, who confirmed the he had not signed to state that he was collecting the cheque on anyone’s behalf.

In his defence Mark Harper said: ‘He used the winnings to make his father’s last 12 months to two years as good as he could. Holidays, a vehicle, various things. When his father passed away in 2007, funeral expenses and the like.’

Cllr Joe Kitchen of Tameside Council said: ‘People who make fraudulent benefit claims are not just cheating the system – they are cheating the whole community. Tameside Council is committed to the prevention, deterrence and detection of benefit fraud.’

Mr Smith appeared before magistrates and was sentenced to 2 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to benefit offences. Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to declare the change in his circumstances and a further five charges of failing to declare the information on his application forms for benefits. He was almost sentenced to 3 months, but due to his early guilty plea escaped with 2 months.

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