A York man who claimed more than £10,000 in benefits that he was not entitled to received a 12-month community order and was told to complete 240 hours of unpaid work when he appeared before Selby Magistrates on 17 March.

Paul Clansey (37) of Peppercorn Close was also ordered to pay costs of £75 after magistrates heard that he failed to declare six bank accounts that regularly contained more than £8,000 in savings, sometimes as much as £15,000.

During a joint investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions and City of York Council, Mr Clansey admitted having undeclared bank accounts but said that he had been loaned the money by friends or parents and had made money from the sale of two motorbikes. However, he denied knowledge of some of the accounts, even though they were in his name.

Clansey's failure to declare the additional bank accounts resulted in him being overpaid £2,383.52 in income support, £3,960.83 in jobseekers allowance, £5,730.52 in housing benefit and £990.55 in council tax benefit - a total of £13,065.42 in benefits that he was not entitled to.

Max Thomas, audit and fraud manager for the council, said: "This should be a reminder to claimants of the need to be one hundred per cent honest with us about their financial circumstances. If you make fraudulent claims, we will catch up with you."

Anyone with information about suspected benefit fraud can confidentially telephone the council's benefit fraud hotline on 01905 552935.