Brighton benefit fraudster jailed

A benefit fraudster from Brighton has been jailed for dishonestly claiming nearly £17,000.

Eric Kamdem, 24, of Wiltshire House in Lavender Street, Brighton, was found guilty of four counts of benefit fraud.

Brighton magistrates were told that he was working full-time while claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit.

For more than a year Kamdem also had a part-time job.

He was jailed for five weeks for each charge with each sentence to be served concurrently.

The case was brought jointly by Brighton and Hove City Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as Kamdem was also illegally claiming income support.

In a separate case brought jointly by the council and the DWP on the same day (Thursday 27 October) a woman was sentenced to carry out community service.

Katie Elizabeth Jones, 27, formerly of Rugby Place, Brighton, was convicted of illegally claiming almost £7,500 in housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Jones, who now lives in Station Road, Burgess Hill, had failed to declare that she was living with her partner who was working.

She was given a 12-month community order and ordered to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work – the maximum is 300 – and pay costs of £1,200.