BENEFITS cheat Tony Brice may appeal against his sentence after admitting three charges of claiming cash to which he was not entitled.
The Lindley councillor was yesterday sentenced for making false representations to claim housing benefit and council tax credit and failing to notify Kirklees Council about his pension, savings, shares and a change in circumstances.
Magistrates ordered Brice, of Belmont Close in Highfields, to do 120 hours of unpaid work, put him under a curfew on Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 10pm until 8am for two months, and told him to pay costs of £1,908.
But the 67-year-old said he was unhappy with the sentence and his solicitor, Bill Rawstron, said they were considering appealing the tough sentence imposed by Calderdale Magistrates.
The chair of the bench, George Salter, told Brice that the sentence had to be of the medium level available to them due to the “position of trust” he enjoyed as a councillor and the fact people would hold such a public figure in “high esteem”.
Magistrates heard how Brice lost his council seat on May 7, 2010, elections. On May 10, he applied for the benefits in the same way all Kirklees residents have to.
