A FRAUSTER was today jailed for a year after claiming more than £40,000 in benefits despite being given some of his mother's £2.2 million National Lottery winnings.

A FRAUSTER was today jailed for a year after claiming more than £40,000 in benefits despite being given some of his mother's £2.2 million National Lottery winnings.

Clive Penfold, 39, failed to declare he had £150,000 savings and a share in a second property when claiming council tax benefit and income support over a nine-year period.

He had been given lump sums totalling £650,000 after his mother won the lottery in the early 1990s and lived a lavish lifestyle, which included fast cars.

He was paid £9,846 in council tax benefit from Ashford Borough Council and £30,325 in income support from the Department for Work and Pensions from 1997 to 2006 after making numerous declarations that he had no capital.

But Maidstone Crown Court heard the net began to close in on Penfold, of Centurion Walk, Park Farm, Ashford, Kent, when monthly data-matching searches revealed he had £150,000 in a bond and a one-third share in a second property, council officials said.

Sentencing him, Judge Jeremy Carey said the 12-month prison term was the minimum sentence he could pass, giving Penfold credit for an early guilty plea and the fact he repaid the money in full.

The judge also took into account that two of Penfold's three children are disabled and require 24-hour care.