How Facebook holiday snaps exposed shameless globe-trotting scrounger
THESE happy holiday snaps have exposed a shameless scrounger’s globetrotting while he was fraudulently pocketing £15,000 in benefits for being too “anxious” to work.
Stephen Astbury, 32, was able to sponge state hand-outs for two years by saying he was unable to get a job due to a “split personality disorder”.
But he was unmasked as a cheat after investigators checked his Facebook profile where photos showed him standing by the Eiffel Tower, sitting on a jet-ski, snorkeling, posing with two parrots and even skiing.
Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions also uncovered proof he was working cash-in-hand in the construction and scrap metal trade.
Blackburn magistrates court heard social media snaps showed him beaming behind the wheel of a string of vehicles – including a quad bike and a JCB digger.
Now the father-of-five, of Great Harwood, Lancs, has admitted benefit fraud but narrowly avoided jail after JPs heard how he cares for his youngest daughter alone.
Magistrates slapped the scrounger with a 32-week suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay a £115 victim surcharge.
Chairwoman of the bench Irene Devine said: “We’ve heard evidence you didn’t initially set out to defraud the DWP or indeed the people.
“Looking at this you are trying to do everything you can to get your life back on track. So we are going to try to deal with this in a sympathetic way – but punish you at the same time.
“We hope this will prevent you from defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions and the people again.”
Earlier, prosecutor Miss Enza Geldard explained to the court how Astbury began collecting employment support benefit and housing benefit in June 2010 on the basis he was “too ill to work”.
She added: “He provided evidence he was unfit to work due to a split personality disorder, anxiety and depression.
“He was informed to notify the DWP if his situation changed.
“However in July 2014 evidence from Facebook showed he was conducting scrap metal work.”
A probation officer told JPs: “The defendant claims he was not aware he had to inform the DWP as he was earning less than £100 a week.
“He has sole custody of a daughter and wants to give her a better life and spent the money on that.
“He was remorseful for his actions and has built up debts of £9,000.”
While Ian Huggan, defending, added: “This was not fraud from the outset. People can still claim benefits if they are working less than 16 hours a week or earning less than £100 a week.
“There was some confusion surrounding that.”
Last month the Daily Express revealed how a new benefits cap brought in by the Government has been hailed a success.
A crackdown targeting lifelong scroungers has stopped almost 200 households raking in £57,000 a year from the taxpayer.
Department for Work and Pensions’ figures estimate that since the benefits cap was introduced in 2013, some 26,000 households which were jobless now have at least one adult employed.
‘We are going to try to deal with this in a sympathetic way’