A FRAUDSTER who claimed his late father's army pension following his mother's death has been spared jail.

Peter Barron, 49, admitted two counts of fraud by false representation and retaining a £5,604 credit between August 2010 and February 2012.

Barron, of Darby Crescent, Ebbw Vale, was given a six-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, and ordered to pay £5,604 compensation at Caerphilly Magistrates' Court last week.

Court records showed he had committed fraud by false representation on April 25 by submitting a false undertaking to the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency, which provides pensions to the armed forces, veterans and their dependents.

He also committed fraud by false representation by submitting a false declaration of pension entitlement to the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency on February 21, court records show.

The records show he also retained a wrongful credit amounting to £5,604 between August 7, 2010 and February 11, 2012.

A Gwent Magistrates' Courts spokesman said Barron had pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation under the Fraud Act 2006 and one count of retaining a wrongful credit under the Theft Act 1968 at Caerphilly Magistrates' Court on July 8.

In an official statement issued yesterday [July 15], a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: "The issue seems to be that it was his father's pension, which passed to his mother on his father's death.

"He acted as appointee for his mother and, after she subsequently died, it seems he didn't notify anyone of this fact, thereby continuing to receive the payments for a period of time.

"He pleaded guilty to the three charges on July 8 at Caerphilly."

Barron was also ordered to pay £85 costs and an £80 surcharge, the court spokeswoman said.