‘Syria idiot’ scrounger’s banged up
KIDNAP TALE
A CYCLIST is hoping to ride into the record books on his monster machine.
Frank Dose, 49, used tyres from an industrial fertiliser and scrap steel to create the behemoth. He is confident the 940kg creation will be
A BENEFIT fraudster claimed he could not have reported a change in his circumstances because he was being held hostage in Syria.
Bashir Souliman was prosecuted for pocketing £10,800 in housing benefit, child tax credits and employment support allowance while he was out of the country.
Benefits bosses said he did not inform them he had left the UK.
Souliman claimed he had only planned to return to his Syrian homeland for a month, but was kidnapped by rebels shortly after arriving.
He said he was held against his will for 10 months and was unable to contact Brit authorities. After a ransom was paid he was freed and flew back to the UK.
But fraud investigators swooped following a tip-off and discovered he had been claiming handouts.
Souliman, 49, was jailed for seven months at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court after admitting benefit fraud and failing to notify the Department for Work and Pensions of a change in circumstances.
Chairman of the bench Christine Speake told named the world’s heaviest rideable bike when he tries to pedal it for 200 metres this week. The machine is surprisingly easy to ride, said Frank, from Rade, Germany.
Wife Astrid added: “It’s a sensational bike.” Souliman he had committed a “deliberate defrauding of the public purse”.
David Devine, prosecuting, said the dad-of-two, who had lived in Britain for 16 years, did not inform benefits chiefs he was heading back to Syria where he remained from January to October 2014.
Geraldine Toal, mitigating, said Souliman was abducted after returning to see his wife and children who were in a Syrian refugee camp.
Souliman worked in a pizza parlour and was no longer claimed benefits.