A financial controller, who kept his job with a law firm a secret during a £12,000 benefits swindle, has been given a deadline by a judge to find a new job and start paying back his local council.
Judge, Robert Winstanley of Isleworth Crown Court deferred sentencing the former financial controller, Lee Graham, 56, and turned down Graham's offer to repay the amount with instalments of £10 a week, which would have taken 23 years.
'The message being conveyed is that Mr Graham just wants to sit back and feel sorry for himself and say: "You can't do anything about it,"' the judge said.
'It has not come across strongly to me that he wants to make restitution.'
The judge granted first-time offender Graham bail and ordered him to return to court for sentencing on 20 December.
Graham pleaded guilty to making a false statement on October 19, 2007, to obtain benefit from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
He received £10,655 in housing benefit and £1,325 in council tax benefit. It later emerged that at the time he was earning up to £2,000 per month on a self-employed basis with Marylebone solicitors Julian Young & Co.
'He plainly has skills and works in the middle of London and there are a host of people out there looking to employ people with Mr Graham's skills so he could pay compensation if he wanted to.
'I am looking for conduct that shows he is willing to make financial reparations. I will defer sentence in the expectation that Mr Graham will find a job and do so in a realistic time,' the judge said.
Prosecutor Paul Sharkey told the court that Graham's jobseekers allowance claim was legitimate when it began in 2004, when his housing association rent and council tax bills were covered by the local authority.
Upon discovering his employed status, the council tried interview Graham but he failed to turn up on three separate occasions.
Graham's lawyer, James Dennis, said his client returned to work after caring for his now-deceased mother and did not come off benefits due to low confidence.
'He realises this is money that has to be paid back and he wants to pay the money back, but his financial circumstances are what they are,' said Dennis.
[Article updated]
On 20 December 2013, Graham was sentenced to a twelve-month community order, which includes 150 hours of community service work, and a £1,200 compensation order was made.