Guilty - the Gloucester con man who cheated the state out of £33K in benefits

Guilty - the Gloucester con man who cheated the state out of £33K in benefits

Benefits cheat: Andrew Stewart
A CON-ARTIST could be facing jail after admitting cheating the State out of £33,500 in benefits – and his mum is on the run from the authorities for a similar charge.
Andrew Stewart, 34, of Quedgeley, claimed he was unemployed for more than two years while working for a skip company in Gloucester. He was also claiming he was a student and successfully applied for a grant, but failed to notify the benefits office.
Stewart, of Merlin Drive, appeared at Gloucester Crown Court and simply said 'guilty' before standing in silence as the case was read out.
His mother Thelma Grey, 62, skipped a court appearance on March 19 for allegedly wrongfully claiming £62,000 in benefits – and warrant is out for her arrest.
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Stewart's prosecution followed a period of being watched following a tip-off that he was actually in work during the time he claimed the cash.
Investigators saw him leaving his house in the morning to do nine-hour shifts during the time he was claiming. He pleaded guilty to dishonestly failing to notify the Department of Work and Pensions of a change in his circumstances – getting a job with Trio Skips – which would affect his entitlement to income support between April 2004 and July 2006.
He admitted a similar charge involving housing benefit and council tax benefit paid by Gloucester City Council.
He also admitted a similar charge of failing to notify the DWP between February 2007 and June 2007 that he had become a student with grant income.
His total amount of benefits deemed to be falsely claimed during the period totalled £33,537.
Tim Burrows asked for a pre-sentence report on Stewart. Judge William Hart agreed and bailed Stewart to be sentenced on July 2.
He told him: "A custodial sentence seems very possible."
Mrs Grey faces 14 charges of falsely claiming income support, housing and council tax benefits between 2000 and 2007 by saying she was single when she was actually living with her husband Dennis Dutton.
She used to live at the same address as her son – but has since left and nobody knows where she is.