Law Firm's Finance Boss Was £12K Benefit Fraudster

A benefit fraudster, who kept his finance job with a law firm a secret during a £12,000 swindle, was given a deadline by a judge yesterday to find new employment and start paying back his local council.

In a rare move, ex-financial controller Lee Graham, 56, had his sentence deferred for three months after his £10-a-week compensation offer was turned down by Isleworth Crown Court Judge Robert Winstanley.

"The message being conveyed is that Mr. Graham just wants to sit back and feel sorry for himself and say: 'You can't do anything about.'

"It has not come across strongly to me that he wants to make restitution," said the judge bailing first-time offender Graham to return to court on December 20.

Graham, of Warwick Road, Earl's Court pleaded guilty to dishonestly making a false statement on October 19, 2007 to obtain benefit from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

He received £10,655 in housing benefit and £1,325 in council tax benefit while earning up to £2,000 per month on a self-employed basis with Marylebone solicitors Julian Young & Co.

If the court had accepted Graham's offer it would take twenty-three years to repay the money.

"He plainly has skills and works in the middle of London and there are a host of people out there looking to employ people with Mr. Graham's skills so he could pay compensation if he wanted to.

"I am looking for conduct that shows he is willing to make financial reparations," added Judge Winstanley. "I will defer sentence in the expectation that Mr. Graham will find a job and do so in a realistic time."

Prosecutor Mr. Paul Sharkey told the court Graham's jobseekers allowance claim was legitimate when it began in 2004 and the rent and council tax bills on his housing association flat was covered by the local authority.

After learning he was working the council wished to interview the defendant, but he failed to turn up to speak to investigators at the town hall on three separate occasions.

Graham's lawyer Mr. James Dennis said his client returned to work after caring for his now-deceased mother and because his confidence was low did not come off benefits.

"He was not sure how it was going to work out and he decided, very stupidly, not to inform the local authority. It snowballed and he buried his head in the sand.

"The sums earned were relatively modest, but he should have declared them. He was not living an extravagant lifestyle.

"Mr. Graham is not claiming benefits or working anymore and relies in friends to get by. He is a man of very little means.

"He realises this is money that has to be paid back and he wants to pay the money back, but his financial circumstances are what they are."