A RETIRED painter and decorator and his partner claimed council tax benefit - despite having nearly half-a-million pounds in the bank.

Blackburn magistrates heard that James Price, 76, had lived a "frugal" life, saving so he could afford a "comfortable" retirement.

When he completed the application for benefits he answered "none" to the question as to whether he had any savings or investments.

But subsequent investigations showed he had numerous building society accounts holding a total of £280,000.

And his partner, Maureen Hargreaves, also had savings of £189,000.

Price, of Devon Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to dishonestly obtain benefit. He was fined £4,500 with £500 costs and asked for a formal 28 days to pay.

Mrs Hargreaves had already been dealt with by the courts and had been given a conditional discharge. All the benefit wrongly claimed had been re-paid, the court was told.

Alan Fairhurst, prosec-uting for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said the benefit was designed to assist people on low incomes to pay their council tax.

"The council calculates entitlement from information provided by the claimant," he said.

In April 2003 Price had submitted a claim form which said he was in receipt of a state pension. He stated on the form that he had no savings or investments.

Council officials carried out routine inquiries in August 2005 to check the defendant's circumstances were still the same and he revealed savings of £2,044.

A referral from the Department of Works and Pensions then revealed savings in other building society accounts and an investigation was begun.

"This finally revealed accounts with the Nationwide, Britannia and Yorkshire Building Societies holding a total of £280,000," said Mr Fairhurst.

The total overpayment up to November 2005 had been £3,129 Rachel Adamson, defending, said Price bitterly regretted stating that he had no savings when clearly he and his partner did have a great deal of money in the bank.

She said Price had been in work all his life until he retired at 65. During his national service he was involved in the Suez Canal crisis and had never appeared before the courts before.

"During his working life he saved towards his retirement," said Miss Adamson. "He has always had a very careful lifestyle with an eye on the future. He still lives within his pension."

Passing sentence the chairman of the bench said the offence was aggravated by the amount of money Price had in the bank.