A pensioner has been sentenced to four months prison for claiming more than £17,000 in pension top ups he wasn’t entitled to while working as a £110-a-day offshore pipefitter.
John Davie claimed the benefit which is designed to top up the income of pensioners earning less than £142.70 a week.
The 68-year-old was contracting for AMEC UK on offshore rigs while taking the money.
He claimed he had not been working full-time while picking up the benefits.
Fiscal depute Isma Mukhtar told Dundee Sheriff Court: "Information was received that the accused was receiving income from AMEC and had been doing so since 2007.
"Enquiry was made with the organisation and payslips were provided by them which confirmed the accused had been employed by them during the period outlined.
"His earnings had been paid into his bank accounts."He had been earning £14 an hour.
"He went for an interview with officers and confirmed he had been working offshore as a pipefitter and worked as and when required.
"He apologised for his actions and stated he had not deliberately gone out of his way to defraud the Department of Work and Pensions.”
The Crown asked for a confiscation order to be granted to reclaim the money Davie had taken.
Davie, 68, of Kirkton Place, Dundee, pleaded guilty to obtaining pension credit to which he was not entitled totalling £17,044.99 between April 20, 2007 and September 12, 2010.
Jim Laverty, defending, said: "The difficulty for him was that it was not every week or every year he was working.
"He probably did about two or three trips a year and it tended to be in summer time."
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