A delivery driver who fraudulently claimed more then £40,000 in benefits has been ordered to pay back £13,000 of his ill-gotten gains
Norman Belk declaring himself unfit to work because of his bad back despite having a job for more than three years as a delivery driver for Yorkshire Post Newspapers.
During that time Belk, 68, of Littlemoor Crescent, Pudsey. made illegal disability and pension credit claims. He was handed a 10 month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, in February this year.
Belk returned to Leeds Crown Court to face a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The court heard he made a total of £48,923 from his criminal conduct but had just £13,450 of assets available. Belk was ordered to pay the amount within six months or face being jailed for a year.
At his sentencing hearing, the court heard he had been in receipt of benefits since 1998 for back problems on the basis that his condition meant it took him three minutes to walk just 20 yards.
Belk began working as a delivery driver in 2006 and his duties involved loading bundles of newspapers, up to 140 at a time, each weighing 17kgs. He was arrested and claimed his son and son-in-law did the work and he only occasionally rode in the van. But checks with his employer revealed he was responsible for most of the work.