A former Tory councillor dishonestly claimed nearly £11,000 in disability and housing benefits Albert Pounder from Lancashire was found guilty of fraudulently claiming benefits

A former Conservative Councillor has been found guilty of fraudulently claiming nearly £11,000 in disability and housing benefits.

Albert Pounder, 74, who worked for Fylde council in Lancashire, has been found guilty on two charges of benefit fraud.

He had denied claiming £10,422 in disability living allowance between 2014 and 2016.

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Failure to notify

Pounder also denied claiming £467.23 in housing benefit from his own council in 2016.

The former councillor represented the village of Staining and was made portfolio holder on Fylde Council for customer and operational services before retiring on health grounds last year.

Pounder dishonestly failed to notify the authorities about his true mobility and care needs.

The court previously heard he has been in receipt of DLA since 1996 and was receiving the high rate mobility component of £57.45 per week and a middle rate care component of £55.10.

Caught out

In a DLA form in 1995 Pounder said walking short distances made him “breathless”, and that he needed to “rest to regain my breath”.

He said he could only walk 50 yards before he felt severe discomfort, and that he needed assistance getting out of the bath, with washing his hair, and sometimes needed help climbing stairs.

Surveillance was also conducted at the Staining Village field day in September 2015 at which he was seen walking 200 yards without help before folding and carrying a table.

Pounder refused to comment.

The original source of this article is our sister title Blackpool Gazette