A MAN who received more than £50,000 in benefits he was not entitled to has been jailed.

Michael Craney, 74, claimed benefits under the name Gregory Kelly between 2004 and 2010 before he was finally caught.

He set up a National Insurance card under the false name to collect two lots of benefits from Tendring Council.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard the Department for Work and Pensions and Tendring Council suspected Craney was committing fraud and set up a surveillance operation at his house in Clacton.

He was arrested in January last year and admitted six counts of benefit fraud.

Laura Kenyon, mitigating, said: “He initially filled out the first forms for his cousin, who is Gregory Kelly.

“When the money started coming in, Gregory Kelly had returned to Ireland.

“My client was finding it difficult to cope on the amount of pension credit he was getting and he decided to keep the extra money.

“He is remorseful and says he did not appreciate the extent of how much he had received over the years.” Craney, now of Goddard House, Hoe Street, Walthamstow, was given 14 months in prison for each count of benefit fraud to be served at the same time.

Judge Christoper Chandler said: “A great deal of public money has been lost through your fraudulent activities.

“I am sceptical over how it started, but no matter how it started, it clearly became very deliberate and went on for six years.

“It was set up in a very deliberate way and involved a serious amount of money.”