Benefit cheat spared jail as result of delay

Abenefits cheat who hid his husband to claim thousands of pounds has been told he will not be sent to prison because of delays in the case against him.

A sheriff told conman Paul Barty he would be treated more leniently because of lengthy delays caused by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Sheriff James Macdonald slammed the Department of Work and Pensions for taking so long to bring the case to a conclusion.

He told Perth Sheriff Court it was a serious offence but he could not consider jailing Barty because the time taken meant it would be a breach of his rights.

“This is a rather unusual case, Mr Barty,” Sheriff Macdonald said.

“I am very concerned at the apparent delay.

“Plainly the accused here comes to the court a number of years later.

“It could be said that in the circumstances this was a serious matter.

“But through the passage of time I must afford some sort of remedy for the delay.

“At least a significant part of that delay, prior to a report being made to the procurator fiscal, is unexplained. That causes you real prejudice.

“You could have been sentenced and served that in full by now.

“You have been significantly disadvantaged by having this matter hanging over you for a number of years.

“I am going to reflect that disadvantage to you.

“I am going to defer sentence for 12 months for you to be of good behaviour and to repay the sum in full.

“If you do both those things I am minded to treat you leniently.”

He continued: “I wish to make it clear there is no criticism of the Crown here, but the question is about what happened before it reached the Crown.

“There is no immediately apparent reason for the delay in the Department for Work and Pensions delaying submitting their report to the Crown.

“The accused was formally notified about the charge against him by the DWP in February 2017.

“For reasons which are not clear, the Crown did not hear about this until nearly two years had passed.”

Barty, 49, of Orchard Way, Inchture, admitted conning the DWP out of £3,628.95 by telling them he was only living with his mother, for whom he was carer, in Clayton Road, Bridge of Earn.

He admitted failing to tell the agency he was, in fact, living with his employed husband while claiming Income Support between July 8, 2014 and June 1, 2015.

Barty had faced a further charge of conning the agency out of another £3,664.21 between February 2016 and January 2017 but that was dropped yesterday by the Crown.

The DWP has been contacted for comment.

COURT: Paul Barty cheated the Department for Work and Pensions out of thousands.