A MAN who said he lived alone to claim more housing benefits has been found guilty of fraud.

Kevin Guihen, of Kingsway, Widnes, pleaded guilty to the offence at Runcorn Magistrates' Court and was fined £150 and ordered to pay £100 in costs.

The 60-year-old had been living as a lodger at a Halton Housing Trust house on Kingsway and in October 2005 he claimed that his landlady Ms Turner would no longer live at the property. Instead she would be living in Denbighshire and he would be living at the property by himself, paying £85 a week in rent.

Due to the change from lodger to tenant, Guihen's housing benefit was increased from October 3.

In January this year, the benefit investigation unit at Halton Borough Council was informed that Ms Turner was subletting the property to Guihen and charging him more rent than she was herself liable to pay Halton Housing Trust.

When questioned, Guihen said Ms Turner did not live in North Wales but at the same property as him, where he rented two rooms, not the whole property, and admitted making a false statement. In total, he had been overpaid £349.60 in housing benefits from October 3 2005 to January 22 2006.