Man pleads guilty to £26k benefit fraud

Ian Andrew Waugh pleaded guilty at Carlisle Magistrates' Court

A man has admitted fraudulently claiming over £26,000 in benefits, which also put him in breach of a suspended sentence handed to him over a crowbar attack.

Ian Andrew Waugh, from Great Corby in Cumbria, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Magistrates' Court to dishonestly failing to declare a change of circumstances which affected his Universal Credit payments.

Court papers showed he failed to tell the Department for Work and Pensions that his children were no longer living with him, leading to overpayments totalling £26,278 between December 2021 and July 2024.

Waugh was on a suspended 18-month sentence from May 2022 following his involvement in an attack that left his victim with a fractured skull.

The court heard the crowbar attack was a result of a bitter Facebook dispute.

Deputy district judge Roger Lowe adjourned the benefit fraud case and requested a probation service pre-sentence report before Waugh, 49, receives his punishment.

He is due to be sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on 26 August. In the meantime, he has been released on bail.