A BENEFITS cheat who racked up a bill of almost £24,000, claiming his multiple sclerosis left him wheelchair-bound, was caught working as an HGV driver.

For four years Kevin Stephenson (53) said he needed personal care seven days a week – despite working 55 hours a week for a haulage firm.

He would deliver and collect white goods, containers and timber for five days and four nights a week for Clackmannanshire-base agency, Gogar Logistics.

Stephenson, an armed forces veteran, avoided jail on Thursday after Alloa Sheriff Court heard that custody would exacerbate his neurological condition.

Instead Sheriff David Mackie sentenced Stephenson to a Community Payback Order for 12 months with 250 hours of unpaid work and placed him on a Restriction of Liberty Order for three months, preventing him from leaving his house between 9pm and 5am daily.

The court heard that Stephenson was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002 and in 2006 he informed welfare officers that he was wheelchair-bound and needed personal care seven days a week.

He was awarded the maximum amount in Disability Living Allowance but failed to inform the Department for Work and Pensions when his condition improved.

Stephenson, formerly of Dovecot Road, Tullibody, now living in homeless accomodation in Alloa, continued to claim at the highest benefits rate from 3 June 2009 until 19 February 2013, racking up thousands of pounds in overpayments. He pled guilty to obtaining £23,950 by fraud.

In 2012 welfare officers received information that Stephenson was working as an HGV driver for the recruitment agency and an investigation was launched.

Fiscal depute Lindsay Brooks said, “Witnesses from the company were unaware that he had a disability. He didn’t provide any information that he wasn’t physically fit. He worked 55 hours a week, arrived at work by car and walked 200 yards to the site. He was not off sick for any periods.” Stephenson told investigators he had not had a severe relapse for four years and that he used annual leave rather than sick leave to control his condition.

Robert Smith, defending, said, “There are periods when he is simply unable to function on any sort of level and can be bedridden and confined to a wheelchair. He did improve but clearly he still suffers from multiple sclerosis and he will have it for the rest of his life.” He added that his client had a minor stroke last year which saw his HGV licence revoked.

Sheriff Mackie told Stephenson he would not face jail due to the “exceptional circumstances” in his case – such as the effect custody would have on his multiple sclerosis.