A man who worked for five different employers while fraudulently claiming benefits has been put on probation.

Marc Daniel Moore admitted nine counts of benefit fraud which resulted in him being overpaid £31,448 to which he was not entitled.

Magistrates put him on probation for two years.

The 48-year-old has already begun paying back the money to the Isle of Man Treasury.

We previously reported that Moore, who lives at Marathon Road in Douglas, had been working at the Hydro Hotel in January 2019, Heron and Brearley in April and June 2019, The Mitre Hotel in Ramsey in December 2019 and November 2020, HQ Bar and Restaurant in March 2022, and the Welbeck Hotel in June 2022 and September 2022.

The work was not declared to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

He has initially started claiming benefits in 2019 due to being medically unfit for work and provided medical certificates supporting this.

However, in August 2022 information was received by the DHSC that Moore had been working as a chef at the Welbeck Hotel.

Further investigations discovered that he had also worked for the other employers.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain said that Moore had entered his guilty pleas at an early stage.

Moore opted to represent himself in court, declining the use of a duty advocate, and submitted paperwork in support of a knee injury.

He told magistrates: ‘The reason I didn’t take legal representation is that I don’t see the point in wasting more taxpayers’ money.’

Moore said that he was currently doing relief work until his court case was settled and that he had repaid £120 so far of the £31,448.

In a letter also handed to the court by Moore, he said that he was not offering any excuses but wanted to put forward mitigation.

He said that he claimed incapacity benefit while working but the work was sporadic due to pain in his knee.

The letter concluded with Moore saying: ‘I am under no illusions what I did was wrong.

‘I will carry on paying all my debts as agreed.’

Magistrates told Moore that they expected him to continue with the payments and also ordered him to pay £125 prosecution costs at a rate of £10 per week.

Chair of the magistrates Julie Maddrell said: ‘You embarked on a deliberate systematic fraud which deprived those who need benefits most from their legal entitlement.

‘It was a deliberate attempt to defraud the state.’