A man committed benefit fraud when he failed to tell anyone that he was living with his partner.

Raze Ghazi-Ali claimed more than £4,000 in housing benefit that he was not entitled to.

He claimed he didn’t inform Kirklees Council that he was living with the mother of his three children - in case she threw him out.

The 29-year-old had denied a charge of failing to notify a change of circumstances likely to affect his entitlement to a benefit.

He then changed his plea to guilty on the day he was due to stand trial at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court.

The fraud happened between June 1, 2015 and October 9, 2016.

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Ghazi-Ali began claiming housing benefit in 2014 on the grounds that he was unemployed and had no other source of income.

He was living at Church View House in Paddock and promised to tell the council if his circumstances changed.

Shamaila Qureshi, mitigating, explained to magistrates that information then came to light that he failed to declare that he was maintaining a common household with his partner, with whom he shares three children.

He was overpaid £4,646 in benefits as a result of the fraud which will be repaid directly to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mrs Qureshi said: “He was interviewed and denied living with his partner. He said she’d lived with him at Church View House, she’d obtained a property and he helped her move in.

“He denied then moving in with her even though she confirmed this.”

Magistrates were told that Ghazi-Ali, now living with his partner at Town Crescent in Huddersfield, held no previous convictions.

His solicitor Rachel Sharpe explained that he and his partner had lived together in Doncaster.

She said: “When they fell out he was kicked out of the house, she maintained that household with the children and he moved to Huddersfield.

“She turned up on his doorstep with his children and so he felt compelled to allow her into the property.

“Then he helped her when she gained her own property.”

Kirklees Magistrates, Huddersfield
Kirklees Magistrates, Huddersfield

Magistrates were told that Ghazi-Ali held onto his Paddock home but he stayed with his partner up to three nights a week.

Mrs Sharpe added: “It’s right to say that there are problems in the relationship which is why he didn’t tell the DWP that he’d moved in.

“This is because he was fearful that if she kicked him out of the house he would be homeless.”

Mrs Sharpe told magistrates that her client’s claim was legitimate when he initially moved to Huddersfield.

Magistrates sentenced Ghazi-Ali to a community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.

He will have to pay the full trial costs of £620 due to his late guilty plea and £85 victim surcharge.