Fraudster posed as dead brother

A man who fiddled more than £28,000 in benefits in the name of his dead brother has been jailed for a year.

Tracy Isiah Finney, 43, from Edgmond, near Newport, Shropshire, carried out the fraud over nearly nine years, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

He opened a bank account in his brother's name, using a driving licence and National Insurance number.

Finney, from March Lane, whose brother, Lee, died in April 1969, admitted theft.

Prosecutor Natalia Cornwall said the fraud began when Finney was already claiming benefit on his own behalf, but then used his brother's identity to obtain more.

His defence counsel said Finney, a man of previous good character, acted out of sheer desperation when problems developed over a business.

Finney admitted theft making false representations for benefit and using false documents in the commission of fraud.

Judge Robin Onions said it was a "long-standing and deliberate fraud".

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