Nottingham Post commented Builder kept quiet about savings to get extra benefits

An out-of-work builder kept quiet about his £33,000 savings and got extra benefit payments, a court heard. Before the offences were uncovered by civil servants, Michael Sharpe had wrongly received £35,000 from Rushcliffe Borough Council and the Department of Work and Pensions. It added up to an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, for Sharpe, of Corve Dale Walk, West Bridgford. He must pay £85 prosecution costs. The court heard that 59-year-old Sharpe had paid back.