A former footballer – who helped Leyton Orient win the Third Division title – has avoided a red card after being branded a benefits cheat.

Midfielder Richard ‘Dickie’ Plume, 63, played for Millwall in the 1960s alongside legends Derek Possee and Keith Weller before moving to Leyton Orient.

But after his career ended he ran a number of pubs before he and his wife started a catering business in Chapel Lane, St Margarets at Cliffe, supplying bowls clubs and schools.

Now a judge has heard that for five years he also claimed £30,000 in benefits while running Plume Catering, saying he was unable to work.

But Recorder Bobbie Cheema QC decided not to jail the ex-soccer player immediately after hearing how he had now lost everything.

His barrister Kieran Brand told Canterbury Crown Court said that since his arrest his marriage had broken down, his home had been repossessed and he is about to be made bankrupt.

“It is clear you have already suffered a great deal of hardship. Your businesses have folded and you are due to become bankrupt and you have lost your house" - Recorder Bobbie Cheema QC

The judge told Plume who had admitted two benefits offences: “It is clear you have already suffered a great deal of hardship.

"Your businesses have folded and you are due to become bankrupt and you have lost your house.

“For anyone who needs to hear the consequences of this fraudulent offending and its deterrent effect then it is writ large in your case.”

Prosecutor Robert De Banzie said that it was accepted that Plume’s original application for benefits was genuine.

But between 2007 and 2012 he helped run the family business providing catering for local bowls clubs and schools – but carried on pocketing benefits cash.

His barrister Kieran Brand said the business was run “day-to-day” by Plume’s wife – although he visited schools, spoke with heads, collected and delivered food during 170-mile round trips and organised payments to staff.

“It was his view at the time that as he wasn’t involved in the day to day running he didn’t class it as him being employed.”

The court heard how Plume had given “an incredulous” explanation to a benefits investigator saying: “I haven’t worked physically, all I have done is run my business from home.”

Mr Brand said: “He is now deeply ashamed to carry the name of being a benefits cheat. He started his professional life as a footballer and then ran a few public houses before moving into catering.”

He said Plume was now suffering from an enlarged heart and ulcerated legs and was in poor health.

“As a result of these troubles he and his wife separated and he suffered a car accident in October last year and now the company has folded.

"He will be made a bankrupt and he and his 20 year old son are now living in bed and breakfast accommodation because of the financial meltdown.”

Plume and his son – who sat in the public gallery – both wept as Mr Brand told the court: “He is now a man who has lost everything.”

But the judge, in giving him four and half month jail sentence suspended for 12 months, said that during the five years he had plenty of opportunities to tell the DPP he was working.