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Conman who claimed £34k worth of benefits was working full-time for Dundee-based government agency

Conman who claimed £34k worth of benefits was working full-time for Dundee-based government agency

A conman who claimed £34,000 worth of benefits by pretending to be jobless was working full-time for government agency Scottish Enterprise.

Alisdair Duff, 51, was working full-time for the government-funded quango in Dundee while he carried out the fraud for more than six years.

Wheelchair-bound Duff, who was employed as an administrative assistant, has been given time by a sheriff to pay back the money in full.

But Sheriff Lindsay Foulis warned Duff that if he was to avoid a prison sentence he would have to pay a fine of more than £10,000 as well.

Duff, of Wallace Place, Longforgan, admitted fraudulently obtaining £34,000 from the Department of Work and Pensions between 1 January 2011 and 20 July 2017.

He admitted failing to tell the agency about a change in his circumstances when he was claiming incapacity benefit and employment support allowance despite working full-time.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, asked for Duff not to be sent to prison because of the difficulty posed in looking after him in jail.

He said: “There are difficulties in dealing with a person on 16 different medications in custody. You have to look at the overall picture.

“If he is in custody he is a problem for the system because of the extent of his difficulties. The intention is for the money to be found through his family and for him to repay it.”

Sheriff Foulis deferred sentence to allow Duff to pay back the fraudulent cash and to tell the court how he planned to pay a hefty fine as well.

Duff was granted bail and will be sentenced in October.

He was initially charged with fraudulently claiming more than £50,000 pounds over a 10-year period but the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced sum and duration.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.