A Margate man carried on claiming his father’s private pension for 12 years after he died, a court has heard.

Leonard Lawry-Johns, 56, pocketed nearly £30,000 – until police began a probe after being alerted by Insurance giants Standard Life.

Lawry-Johns, of Hengist Avenue, escaped an immediate jail sentence after pleading guilty to obtaining money by deception and fraud.

Prosecutor Donna East told Canterbury Crown Court that Lawry-Johns’ father – also called Leonard – died in 1998 when he was 79.

But she said his son never told the bank or the insurance company which had been paying Mr Lawry-Johns’ senior’s pension.

Instead he posed as his father to write to the bank to try to get them to change address and bank accounts and it was in 2010 when the insurance company became suspicious and alerted detectives.

He later told police he became aware that the insurance company had continued to pay the pension after the death of his father and because he was “very skint” carried on taking the money.

Lawry-JohnsHe would later add that he knew what he had done was “wrong and stupid” but justified it because his father “had worked hard all his life” to pay into the pension.

The court also heard how in 1998, while Lawry-Johns was a team leader at a residential home he was sacked after money began disappearing and he was later convicted of theft.

Judge Nigel van der Bijl said he wanted to order the fraudster to do some unpaid work for the community – but couldn’t after hearing from a probation officer that shops refused to have someone convicted of theft working for them.

Instead he gave him a five-month electronically tagged curfew order from 7pm to 7 am, adding: “I know it will be over the Christmas period but that’s part of the punishment.”

The judge also ordered Lawry-Johns, who receives £1,400 a month in benefits for him and his partner Diane, to pay £500 in compensation.

He said: “This is a serious fraud over a long period of time and only came to light as a result of the police investigation. It is immoral that you should benefit this way from your father’s death.”

Lawry-Johns was given a four month jail sentence suspended for two years.