A window cleaner who claimed he was unfit to work and cheated the state out of nearly £30,000 benefits has been jailed for eight months.
William Bridges, who had a gambling problem, dishonestly claimed income support and Disability Living Allowance for almost five years before suspicious benefit agency officers began a surveillance operation.
During the next five months they filmed 5
9-year-old Bridges carrying ladders and standing on them cleaning windows.
By the time Bridges was interviewed he had been paid £28,542 by the Department of Work and Pensions and his 34-year-old son, Mark Bridges, who had been helping with the window cleaning round, had fraudulently obtained benefits totalling £13,849.
Bridges Snr, of Station Road, Haydock, and his son, of Pool End, St Helens, both pleaded guilty to three offences of failing to notify a change of circumstances.
David McLachlan, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court Bridges Snr began obtaining benefits in December 1993 on the basis he was unfit for work and just over three years later began also receiving DLA.
Mr McLachlan said: "He made a statement that he needed help with personal care and had severely restricted mobility saying he could only walk short distances before he felt discomfort.
Mark Bridges claimed benefits dishonestly between January 2005 and June 2006.
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The full article contains 228 words and appears in Wigan Evening Post newspaper.
