A pensioner has been fined for claiming £11,000 in benefits in the name of his dead mother.

Between 2007 and 2014, Jonathan Field, of Wigmore Road, Rainham, submitted eight council tax forms in the name of his mother, who died in 2006.

The 71-year-old claimed she was living in a property he owned in Hawthorne Avenue, Rainham.

Field’s mother had been entitled to council tax exemption since 1993, when she moved out of her house to live with her son so she could receive care. In 1998, she transferred the property into her son’s name.

After she died he continued to claim his mother was living at the Rainham property and said she was receiving care elsewhere, resulting in a council tax undercharge of £11,030.95.

Field pleaded guilty to eight counts of false representation in order to receive a council tax discount, under the 2006 Fraud Act, at Medway Magistrates Court on September 29.

The court heard Field struggled to accept his mother's death and how, in his eyes, she was "receiving care in a different place".

Field has now paid back the £11,030.95, but he was fined £400 for each of the offences plus legal costs of £423.50, which totalled £3,623.50.

Cllr Jane Chitty, head of enforcement, said: “I commend council officers for their thorough work which led to the discovery of this fraud. Anyone falsely claiming benefits should be aware that they will be found out and they will be prosecuted.

“In this specific case, while the actions of the individual were unacceptable, he has accepted what he did was wrong, and paid the substantial sum back in full.”