A 40-year-old French music teacher, who lived in a penthouse apartment with a private pool, used a false identity to fraudulently claim tens of thousands of euro in social welfare payments, a court has been told.

Daniel Daudet fraudulently claimed a total of €175,000 in unemployment benefit and other payments over a 13-year period.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard the music teacher, from Spencer Dock in Dublin, was living in an apartment costing €3,000 a month in rent when gardaí searched his home and found forged identity documents.

The court was told he applied for a PPS number under the name of Alexandre Daude - his middle name and a version of his surname - in July 2002.

He continued to use that PPS number to claim unemployment assistance, which later became Jobseeker's Allowance.

He also claimed Rent Allowance, Back to Education Allowance and Supplementary Welfare benefit.

During this time, Daudet completed a degree in music on a back to education scheme and went on to become a music teacher.

The court heard that he was earning a salary as a music teacher under his own name while also claiming benefits under his other identity.

Bank statements over the years showed he lodged various amounts to two bank accounts.

The amounts lodged each year ranged from €9,000 to €54,000 between 2002 and 2015.

At a trial last year, a jury found him guilty on a number of charges and failed to agree on others.

The court was told he was paid a total of €175,000 through the fraudulent claims on which he was convicted.

Daudet has repaid €7,300 to date at €100 per week.

He has been in custody since last year.

Social welfare officers began investigating Daudet in 2015 after he entered a social welfare office in Cork Street inquiring about benefits.

An officer searched Google for Alexandre Daude - a music teacher - and discovered that no such person existed.

However she discovered a LinkedIn profile of Daniel Daudet and compared the photographs.

It was later discovered that Daudet had copied and altered a French national identity card to assume the name Alexandre Daude and used it and other forged documents to secure a PPS number.

He had photocopied the card and used Tipp-Ex to change the name.

He had also changed the name on a DCU certificate and a rent agreement.

The court heard the rent allowance was paid for a number of different addresses.

Daudet said he had a key to a letter box in one of the premises and would collect the post from it.

From 2002 to 2013 he used his own identity to work in various jobs and also entered a civil partnership during that time and subsequently married his partner with whom he was living in the Spencer Dock penthouse.

He was invited in for interview by social welfare officials and they used facial image matching software to establish the dual identities.

After his arrest, he made admissions to gardaí but, at his trial, he denied the charges and his lawyers claimed he had used another version of his own name to obtain the PPS number.

At his sentence hearing today, defence counsel Blaise O'Carroll said Daudet was effectively trying to regularise his position.

He said he was willing to pay back the money and wanted to get his life back on track.

He said anyone asked to give a character reference for Daudet spoke very highly of him and described him as a kind and gentle person and an excellent music teacher.

Mr O'Carroll described it as a tragic case and said that, during the overall offending period, Daudet would have legitimately been entitled to some of the benefits claimed but the problem was he used the wrong name and PPS number.

Judge Melanie Greally said the other interpretation was that he constructed a dual identity to fraudulently claim benefits.

The judge said she wanted time to consider the submissions made and would sentence him on 29 January.