A RETIRED roadmender illegally claimed more than £11,000 in benefits over a period of three years, a court was told.

Anthony Bonnici claimed employment and support allowance (ESA) - intended for those unable to work because of illness or disability - from March 2103 to March 2016.

His claim was legitimate to begin with, but should have been stopped when he started to receive more than £260 per month as a result of an occupational pension, an amount that subsequently increased to £275 a month.

But he did not tell the relevant authorities that he was receiving the pension payouts, the judge - Recorder of Cardiff Eleri Rees - was told.

For a brief period in summer 2016, Bonnici also receive Jobseekers' Allowance, again not declaring his income from his pension.

And he also received a further ESA payment to which he was not entitled in September last year.

Bonnici, aged 64, of Aberthaw Road, Newport, illegally claimed a total of £11,083.80.

Recorder Rees sentenced him to serve a 12-month community order, including a four-week curfew from 7pm-6am, during which he must wear an electronic tag.

"This should bring home to him the fact that he has offended, and should not do so again," she said.

"He must be scrupulously careful to make sure he does not offend in this way again," she said.

Bonnici, a road maintenance worker and vehicle driver for more than 20 years, is paying back the money at the rate of £22 a fortnight.

The Crown Prosecution Service is pursuing a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) case, but Recorder Rees questioned whether - given Bonnici's means and the fact that he is paying back the money - it was in the public interest.

He had pleaded guilty to three charges relating to fraudulent benefit claims at an earlier hearing in the magistrates' court, and she said that in her view the case should have been concluded there.