A mill worker forced to retire from his work due to ill-health committed benefit fraud because he was concerned about dipping into his £60,000 savings.

Mohammed Bashir, 64, claimed he had just £100 to his name when he applied for benefits.

As a result of the fraud he received more than £15,000 he was not entitled to get.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit when he appeared at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

His solicitor said that he had been fearful for the cash disappearing following his cancer diagnosis which forced him to leave his job of 40 years.

Vanessa Jones, prosecuting, said that Bashir first applied for council tax benefit in July 2010.

0n the form he stated that he had no assets and made the same claim on a form later issued by Kirklees Council.

When he applied for employment and support allowance in September 2011 he told the Department for Work and Pensions that he had only £400 in his bank account.

Mrs Jones said: “The reality was that Mr Bashir held over £60,000 of savings when he made these claims.

“The overpayment that resulted from this was £15,392.”

Robert Brackup, mitigating, explained that his client had worked in mills in the Huddersfield area for 40 years, putting in 60 hour weeks.

He said that Bashir had an old-fashioned work ethic and believed in spending little to save as much as possible.

Mr Brackup said: “He lived very modestly and up until 2008 accumulated £60,000 in savings.

“Things changed for him when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and underwent radical surgical intervention.

“The effect of this was to end his working career.”

Magistrates were told that Bashir, of Whitby Avenue in Fartown, went to Pakistan before returning to the UK in 2010.

He was unable to work and a friend suggested that he claimed for benefits and he did so, being “less than frank” about the amount of his capital.

Mr Brackup said: “I suspect that his thinking arose out of a sense of panic and desperation. He’s a man who takes his family responsibilities very seriously.

“Through hard work he has accumulated quite a nice sum and the panic was that sum would soon dissipate and he would have little to show for all those years of hard work.

“There was a temptation which he failed to resist.”

Magistrates heard that Bashir has since repaid the fraudulently obtained cash.

They fined him £400 and he must still pay £85 costs and £40 victim surcharge.