Benefit cheat caught after boasting of luxury lifestyle to local newspaper

Barry Marsh was supposed to be surviving on £82-a-week benefits after claiming he could not work due to a "bad back".

He spoke to the paper after a coach he and his family were travelling on in Turkey overturned. Describing their ordeal, he went on to reveal how he had visited the country on holiday for the past seven years.

Staff at his local Jobcentre saw the article, prompting a fraud inquiry.

Marsh, 54, of Portsmouth, could face jail when he is sentenced next month after pleading guilty to a £31,000 benefit fraud.

Marsh went on to tell how he had visited the resort for the past seven years and loved sipping cocktails long into the night.

After reading of his sun-loving lifestyle, the Department of Work and Pensions began an investigation and discovered the fraudster had thousands stashed away in secret bank accounts.

He had also paid out thousands of pounds up front to buy a brand new Ford Transit van.

And Marsh had set up home with wage-earning admin clerk Tracy Johnson while claiming to live alone.

When police raided Marsh's home in Cosham, Portsmouth, Hants, they discovered £7,000 cash hidden in the kitchen along with a jar filled with £600 in £1 coins.

Police seized the cash and £5,740 was later confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act after it was found to have been earned illegally.

Marsh has now pleaded guilty to a £31,000 benefit fraud and could face jail for his lies next month.

Investigators are still unsure where the mountains of cash came from but had more than enough evidence to show that Marsh was conning the public purse out of thousands.

Government benefit fraud investigator Steve Cox said: "Throughout the course of the search there were quite clear indications he was living a lifestyle well above the levels he could afford.

"He had taken a number of holidays abroad and they weren't cheap package trips. He had a number of accounts. Two Lloyds accounts with a total of £13,369.19 and a Nat West account with £9,720.35.

"We've never been able to say where that money came from. He bought a new £18,750.43 Ford Transit van in May 2006. He paid a deposit of £13,750.43 and he also had a hire purchase deal for the last £5,000.

"Benefit fraud is stealing from someone in need. Marsh was a man with a lot of money in his bank account yet he'd been stealing from people who needed that money."

Staff at Cosham Job Centre alerted the authorities after Marsh appeared in the Portsmouth News talking about his coach crash ordeal.

Marsh, Ms Johnson, his daughter Bonnie Marsh, her partner Andrew Norman and their son Alfie, plus Marsh's daughter Deborah Marsh and her son Tommy Marsh were all travelling on the coach.

It smashed into the side of a mountain before rocking on to two wheels and narrowly avoiding plunging down a deep ravine, an ordeal Marsh described as "horrific".

But of more interest to benefits officials was Marsh talking about his lifestyle.

DWP investigators then swung into action and used their powers to study Marsh's finances without his knowledge, while comparing his finances with the claims he had made since 1999.

Marsh admitted three counts of benefit fraud and two of failing to tell benefit bosses about changes in his finances at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The overpayments since 2000 totalled more than £31,000 - £28,513.73 in incapacity benefit and £2,942.73 in council tax benefit, said the DWP.