A benefits fraudster who pleaded poverty to Elmbridge Council has been handed a suspended jail sentence – because he had £99,000 stashed away in two bank accounts.

Scott Linegar, 37, admitted two counts of benefits fraud after he told the council in 2011 he was living in West Molesey, but had in fact been living elsewhere.

He also told the council in early 2013 he had no capital and a low income, but had more than £99,000 in two undeclared bank accounts.

He was overpaid housing benefits of £2,976.95 and council tax support worth £400.84 between January and May 2011.

Linegar, of Lower Green Gardens in Worcester Park, also claimed a further £10,900.43 in housing benefits and £1,837.11 between February 2013 and November 2014.

For the first offence he was handed a suspended sentence of two months in jail, suspended for 18 months, on March 15. For his later offences he was given six months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

The sentences will run concurrently. He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and pay a victim surcharge of £80, plus £750 towards the council’s costs.

In a separate case, Sarah Ralph, 50, of Upper Farm Road in West Molesey, was overpaid housing benefits worth £8,191.59 between June and December 2013 and council tax support worth £744.10 between August 2013 and September 2014.

Ralph admitted failing to tell the council that she held capital above the maximum threshold, as well as failing to disclose her stake in a property which also affected her benefit entitlements before her sentencing.

She was ordered to pay a penalty of £300, as well as costs of £300 and a surcharge of £20, at Redhill Magistrate’s Court on March 15.