A BANKRUPTED chauffeur earned more than £50,000 but lied to the Official Receiver that he was unemployed.

Thomas Stocking made two false statements about his earnings, Worcester Crown Court was told.

His actions held up the bankruptcy proceedings and meant that the income was not available to his creditors, said Laura Hobson, prosecuting.

Stocking, aged 58, of Worcester Road, Ledbury, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury.

Jailing him for eight months, Judge John Cavell said: “This wasn’t naivety, it was simple dishonesty. It must be made clear that offences against public justice merit custody.”

Stocking was employed by Anglo American Services UK in London for 11 years, working on two-year renewable contracts.

But in December 2009, he went into voluntary bankruptcy with debts of £107,000, said Miss Hobson.

Between that date and June the next year, he continued to be employed by the same firm, earning £58,561.

Yet he told the Official Receiver he had no income and later admitted that he lied “in panic”.

Defending, Judith Kenney said he was a naive and uneducated man who was anxious to maintain his chauffeur contract.

His debts included loans and money to pay for his wife’s fertility treatment. He was unable to work for some months after suffering a heart attack.

Miss Kenney said he mistakenly believed that he could not work as a bankrupt and that his debts “had been wiped clean”.

He committed the offences due to a bad decision to make himself bankrupt, which he took without legal advice.