VOSA area manager James Dorman has admitted a £30,000 plus disability benefit fraud over a 16 year period when he appeared before Liverpool Crown Court.
Dorman, of Crosby, pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining services by deception and one charge of fraud between 20 October 1992 and 13 May 2008.
The court was told that Dorman repeatedly claimed he was barely able to walk to claim a series of disability cars. He first began claiming disability living allowance in September 1988, claiming it was "agony" to walk even 10 yards, and saying he needed a knee brace and stick.
The following year, he received a life-time award, which granted him the higher rate of disability living benefits until the age of 75 and enabled him to receive a series of new cars. However, in reality, he was rapidly rising up the ranks of VOSA. He began working for the agency in 1990 and was quickly promoted. By the time his lies were exposed, he had been appointed as an area manager in Stopgate Lane, Simonswood. Over the course of the scam, he benefited to the tune of £30,266.
Philip Tully, defending, said Dorman was in a position to repay the full amount he had fraudulently received.
Adjourning the case until 26 October for pre-sentence reports, Judge Adrian Lyon indicated that assuming repayment took place, there would be no immediate custodial sentence.
