A BENEFITS cheat has been ordered to pay back £8,000 to the taxpayer.

Raymond Shutts, 57, of St Luke’s Road, Southend, was granted housing and council tax benefits after telling Southend Council he was receiving incapacity benefit.

However, he then kept quiet about receiving a lump sum payment of between £14,000 to £18,000, meaning the council shelled out £8,000 more than was owed.

Shutts, who admitted benefit fraud, was told to return the money, pay £50 in legal costs and given an 18-month conditional discharge when he appeared at Southend Magistrates’ Court.

Andrew Moring, the Tory councillor responsible for benefits, said: “We are committed to paying benefits to those who are entitled to it, but we also have a duty to protect the public purse and take action against people committing benefit fraud.

“It is an offence to commit benefit fraud and the repayment of benefit is not the only action that the council may take.”