A HUSBAND and wife have been ordered to pay back £30,000 in stolen benefits.

Malcolm Smith, 60, and wife Kathleen, 62, admitted committing benefit fraud when they appeared at Maidstone Magistrate's Court yesterday.

The couple, of Cobbett Close, East Malling, collected £27,063.96 of payments they were not entitled to. They had failed to declare money inherited from Mr Smith's late father and carried on receiving the money.

They pleaded guilty to three offences of failing to declare a change in circumstance to Tonbridge and Malling Council.

The couple's solicitor said in mitigation: "Mr and Mrs Smith made a claim which was genuine from the start. They received this windfall and frittered away the money on their adoptive son, buying him top of the range laptops and holidays, and spent the rest of the money on living expenses."

The Smiths were ordered to pay back the money and £75 costs. They were each given a 60 day suspended prison sentence and are under curfew from 7pm to 7am for three months.

Speaking after the hearing, council finance chief Cllr David Aikman commented: "There can be no excuse for benefit fraud, which costs council tax payers thousands of pounds each year. I am pleased to have recorded yet another successful prosecution and I hope that the severity of the sentence in this case acts as a deterrent to other would-be fraudsters."