‘Walter Mitty’ benefit cheat walks free
A BENEFIT cheat ex-solicitor who said he could barely walk was branded a ‘deluded fantasist’ and a ‘Walter Mitty’ character as he was spared jail.
Alan Blacker, 47, was found guilty of dishonesty receiving more than £60,000 in overpayment of disability living allowance.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard despite claiming he could barely walk, investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions found he was walking without support and climbing stairs without discomfort.
Blacker, from Rochdale, who also goes by the name Lord Harley, was seen helping to build a model railway, completed a first aid training course and was witnessed walking around Rochdale and in a cafe without support.
The judge accepted Blacker has disabilities and his initial application for disability living allowance was genuine, but said he had ‘completely exaggerated’ them. “You knew the system well and exploited it in a calculated manner,” the judge told Blacker.
As a practising solicitor, Blacker had advised people about claims and appeals of disability living allowance.
None of the money has been repaid, prosecutor Chloe Fordham said.
Blacker has been declared bankrupt and was previously struck off as a solicitor. He had previously been involved with Salford Sea Cadets, and claimed to be an honorary colonel in the 103rd Royal Artillery unit at Bolton, which was found to be a ‘complete fiction.’
“I am satisfied that you are not only a dishonest man but also a deluded fantasist,” the judge told Blacker.
At trial Blacker told jurors that the DWP were ‘conspiring’ to convict him because of his ‘success’ against them working as a benefits appeals lawyer.
The judge described this as ‘utter desperation by a man confronted with the truth.’ “The jury properly saw through your complete Walter Mitty existence.” Judge Lawton told Blacker.
In November, Blacker, of Milk Street, Rochdale, was found guilty of dishonestly making a false statement to the DWP to maintain his benefits.
He has received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
The judge said he could spare Blacker jail because his claim was initially legitimate, his offending stopped five years ago, and that his disabilities would cause him difficulties in prison.
Defending, Dominic D’Souza said Blacker had done an ‘awful lot for an awful lot of people.’ He has assisted more than 7,500 clients on a pro-bono basis, Mr D’Souza claimed.
After the hearing a DWP spokesman said: “We have zero tolerance of anyone fraudulently claiming benefits.”