A BENEFITS fraudster who obtained £46,000 while having savings in a building society account has been jailed for nine months.

Neil Fisher, of Latimer Road, Alvechurch, carried out the scam for five years before being arrested, Worcester Crown Court heard.

He got £42,000 in income support and another £4,000 from Bromsgrove District Council in council tax benefits.

But prosecutor Michael Anning said the father of two had £15,000 savings, left to him by his mother.

Fisher, 45, pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining benefits by deception.

Judge David McEvoy QC said he got public money by failing to declare his assets.

Fisher would have to sell his home to pay it back but the Court of Appeal had ruled a con of this scale had to be met by a prison sentence.

The judge made a confiscation order against Fisher for £46,190. The money will have to be repaid within 12 months.

On application forms, Fisher only declared savings of £477, said Mr Anning.

The defendant, arrested in February last year, said he needed help to fill in forms due to reading and writing problems.

He said the building society money was for his children but much of it was spent on home improvements.

Fisher had no previous convictions, said Andrew Faux, defending. He was suffering from depression at the time and had been a heroin addict.

Drugs had caused him medical problems but he had "not clogged up the courts" carrying out crime to pay for his habit.

Mr Faux said he would have to sell the matrimonial home and the family would move to rented accommodation.

"This is a stinging lesson," he added. "He is not a habitually dishonest man but has been the author of his own misfortune."

Fisher's wife and 15-year-old daughter were in the public gallery to see him sentenced.