A SINGER who found fame working with Eighties stars Bronski Beat has been given a suspended jail term after fiddling more than £30,400 in a benefit fraud scam.
Kevin Glancy, who also worked with The Communards, admitted producing false statements to obtain benefit and making false statements to obtain benefit. He was given a one-year suspended jail term at Grimsby Crown Court but, realising he could be jailed, he arrived at court towing a case of belongings.
Outside court, Glancy, 45, laughed off suggestions in newspapers that he had made a fortune from working with Bronski Beat, which had a top three hit with Smalltown Boy in 1984.
The offences he appeared in court for involved claiming for rent payments on his home in Grimsby when he actually owned it himself.
The fraud came to light when checks with the Land Registry revealed that he was the owner of the house involved, not a tenant, and had been since June 2006.
He had previous convictions for obtaining property by deception in 1992, involving a cheque and the sum of about £7000, for which he was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence, and another at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2003 for a fraudulent scheme offence.
Michael Gray, mitigating, said Glancy had encountered problems over the years, including suffering a serious back injury in 2001 which needed surgery. He had received disability living allowance since then."He has not led an extravagant life since the beginning of this claim," said Mr Gray.
After the hearing, Glancy said:"I don't think it's a case of being a benefit cheat. It's a case of filling in the forms and doing it in the wrong way.
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