Make work-shy thief repay debt
0 Comments | Evening Post; Bristol (UK), May 22, 2010
E caught him red-handed.
WA man a probation officer’s report deemed unfit to carry out community work because of his bad back.
Yet a man apparently quite capable of carrying lengths of metal around his front garden without any obvious problems or discomfort.
Perhaps he has recovered or perhaps he simply could not care less about being seen.
Either way, Wayne Cunningham seems to be capable of far more than he would have magistrates believe.
Cunningham has been deceiving Bristol City Council and, indirectly, the rest of us for more than two years.
He is called a benefit cheat but he is actually a thief.
He effectively stole Pounds 10,000 from taxpayers by claiming benefit and council tax relief while he had a job.
He told his solicitor he thought one government department would inform another about his change of circumstances.
That is at best naive and at worst deceitful.
His job involves him driving, loading and unloading vehicles.
So if he can do that, surely he can carry out unpaid community work.
When they sentence him, magistrates need to treat his claims in the interview with a probation officer with caution.
They need to order him to do a lengthy stint of unpaid community work.
It does not have to be heavy manual work but at least he will be forced to do something for the community he has defrauded.
Then magistrates need to make sure he pays back every penny of the money he has wrongfully claimed.
And at a rate that will make him appreciate it is part of his punishment.
