Demolition worker jailed for claiming £70,000 in benefits

Richard Vollans had started to collect income support and incapacity benefit legitimately in 1999 after suffering depression and other health problems following a family tragedy.

But he continued to go on claiming the allowances for more than six years after returning to work in 2003, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

While his documentation recorded problems with back pain, that he was unable to bend, lift or carry anything, he was doing physical work employed as a demolition operative, Simon Perkins, prosecuting, told the court.

Between April 2003 and September 2009, when his dishonesty came to light, Vollans was overpaid £41,490 in incapacity benefits and £28,333 in income support.

During that period he worked for three different demolition firms without notifying the Department for Work and Pensions.

He told officers who investigated the case that his family had been put under pressure because of debts his son owed to drug dealers.

The court heard although he admitted his dishonesty it was more than a year before he was charged because there was only a limited number of lawyers handling cases within the Department from “the Wash to the Scottish Borders”.

Vollans, 52, of Normanton Place, Beeston, Leeds, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted two offences of failing to notify a change of circumstance.

Sentencing him Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: “This was as blatant a piece of dishonesty as one is ever going to come across as far as benefits are concerned.”

He said Vollans had a previous conviction for dishonestly claiming benefits in 1993 and 10 years later he was doing the same again.

The latest dishonesty was prolonged, over six and a half years, netting him nearly £70,000.

“You claimed you were entitled to this because of incapacity, when you were working on demolition sites in active physical work.”

The judge said if he had been put under pressure to pay his son’s drug debts he should have contacted the police not plunder the “public purse.”

He told Vollans he had given him credit for his early admissions and the anxiety he faced in awaiting the case coming to court which was not his fault. “That delay is wholly inexcusable and is a public disgrace,” said Judge Marson.

In September last year Judge Marson asked for a written explanation from the Department of Work and Pensions because of a three-year delay in finalising another case which he described as “wholly inordinate and inexcusable.”

James Keeley representing Vollans told the court the claims had not been dishonest from the start.

They began legitimately when he was off work in the aftermath of a traumatic event for his family when his 11-year-old daughter was knocked down.

“That was something he blames himself for as he had sent her out on an errand.”

He had suffered depression as a result and also suffered from arthritis which contributed to his being unfit for work.

Debts had built up on credit cards and when he continued claiming after getting work again it was intended to be only for a short time to pay off those debts and throughout he paid tax and National Insurance.

But it was at that time the threats arose over his son’s debts to drug dealers.

Vollans was told that his son would be taken away and he would not see him again if money was not paid.

“He also feared retribution against other members of his family. After losing one child in the circumstances outlined he did not want to lose another one,” said Mr Keeley.

He told the court Vollans was genuinely ashamed of what he had done and it was a relief when he was caught but “it had been a living nightmare” since while he waited to see what would happen.

During that time he had continued to work.