Car dealer avoids prison after £90k benefits swindle

Car dealer avoids prison after £90k benefits swindle

27 April 2016

AN Ardglass man has narrowly escaped jail after defrauding the benefits system of £90,000.

Ambrose Kearney (42), of Crew Hill Gardens, was selling cars while 

also claiming benefits for over eight years, Downpatrick Crown Court heard on Thursday.

The three charges —  two of failing to declare a change of circumstances and one of making a false statement on a Housing Benefit form — were admitted at an earlier court hearing.

Prosecuting lawyer Laura Ievers told Thursday’s court that Kearney had sold 33 cars between March 2005 and July 2013. She said that when interviewed by police in October last year Kearney admitted dealing cars, saying that they were “advertised for sale at the top of the road”. 

She said he initially denied that a First Trust account under his name was his, but was told by police he was only person with such a name in Ardglass.

Ms Ievers said Kearney had committed a previous benefits offence in 2001 when he failed to declare work on a building site for several days, for which he 

received a fine.

She said that on this occasion the prosecution acknowledged the early guilty plea in what could have been an “involved and lengthy” case. She added that there was no evidence of Kearney “living beyond his means”.

Almost £2000 has been repaid so far to the Social Security Agency and the Housing Executive.

Querying the financial analysis of the case, Judge Stephen Fowler QC said it could mean Kearney was selling as little as “three of four cars a year”.

The judge said this may have involved him working a small amount of hours, and that the rest of the time the defendant would have been entitled to benefits.

“That would scarcely have been seen as full-time work,” he said.

Ms Ievers said the prosecution accepted that the forensic accounts report in the case was “not a perfect science”.

Judge Fowler went on to stress that “just simply saying the headline figure” was not appropriate in this case. “There is much more to it,” he said.

Defence lawyer Eugene McKenna said the judge had already outlined some of his concerns.

He added that calling his client’s work activities as “car dealing” was “putting it a little high”.

He said that Kearney’s income equalled “a very small amount weekly”. 

“There is no evidence of a lavish lifestyle,” the lawyer said.

Judge Fowler said a prison sentence was standard in such cases but that he did not feel an immediate sentence served the interests of justice.

Referring to pre-sentence reports and references put before the court, he said: “The defendant has not had an easy life and others depend upon him.”

He said he was also influenced by how “full and frank” Kearney had been about his offending.

A six-month custodial sentence was then imposed but suspended for three years.