A WOODSMAN who supplied kindling to a garden centre – but claimed he never worked because of his health – falsely received nearly £30,000 in benefits.

Father-of-two Mark Barnes, 60, might have been entitled to working tax credit or other assistance if he had come clean about his odd job, Burnley Crown Court was told.

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But Barnes, of Tong Lane, Bacup, carried on with the scam for seven years before Department of Work and Pensions investigators caught up with him.

He admitted two charges of dishonestly failing to promptly notify a change in circumstances, initially for income support and later employment support allowance, and council tax benefit from Rossendale Council and making a false representation for job seekers’ allowance in October 2013.

Barnes was given a 12-month community order including 200 hours community service.

Passing sentence, Recorder Andrew Long said: “I am not unsympathetic to your situation. You are a man of previous good character and you showed some nous in getting yourself some work.

“But it was dishonest in that you didn’t notify the department. It may well be if you had been honest then you would have received benefits of some sort or other.”

Prosecutor Claire Thomas said Barnes had claimed benefits since February 2000 for himself, a partner and two dependent children. He said he was not able to work through illness.

He had made declarations to the DWP when his son started work and later when his wife died, which affected his claims, but never told the department he was working.

Investigators found he had been providing kindling for a local garden centre and he was paid around £70 per week.

He told benefits officials that he thought he was entitled to earn the money while still claiming.

The court heard there would be no claim for compensation as the department would instigate civil proceedings to recover the money.

Richard Dawson, defending, said: “It is own foolishness that has placed him in the position that he now finds himself. If he explained his situation then he might well have been entitled to certain benefits.”