St Annes pensioner swindled UK benefits system out of £22,000 to pay for holiday to Thailand

Daniel Glancy, 72, of Wood Street, St Annes, admitted benefit fraud when he appeared before Blackpool Magistrates today (Friday, June 30).

He told the court he fiddled his Housing Benefit and Pension Credit so he could save for a holiday to his wife’s native Thailand.

Magistrates heard how he met his younger wife while travelling there and the pair married after returning to the UK together.

He promised his young wife he would pay for a return trip to Thailand if she needed to visit her elderly mother, who he claimed later became ill and begged her daughter to come home.

"I was struggling for the money and my wife's mother had become unwell,” he told the court, so he resolved to fiddle his benefits – claiming a total of £21,815 that he was not entitled to.

He failed to tell the authorities that his wife was working in the care industry, but the swindle was uncovered by the DWP who questioned him about the payments and his eligibility.

“My client met his wife in Thailand. It is a true love match and they are devoted to each other,” said his lawyer Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair, as she pleaded for the court to show leniency towards the pensioner.

Glancy pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to disclose a change in circumstances and Blackpool Magistrates heard he was repaying the money owed.

“You have come close to prison today,” bench chairman Stephen Fairclough told him as he handed down his sentence.

But Glancy was spared prison and was instead put on a six-month ‘tagged’ curfew from 7pm to 7am seven days a week.