A man "foolishly" let himself be drawn into a benefits scam.

Blackburn magistrates heard Dillon Oram-Farrington allowed his details and bank account be used to make fraudulent claims which exploited a loophole that existed in the system.

The court was told he eventually received an overpayment in excess of £5,000.

Oram-Farrington, 24, of Grafton Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to four charges of retaining wrongful credit. He was made subject to a community order with 40 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £85 costs and £114 victim surcharge. The court was told arrangements had already been made for the repayment of the benefits.

Imran Hussain, defending, said the first offence was committed in 2018 and the last in 2020 when people became aware of a loophole in the benefits system which allowed fraudulent claims to be made successfully.

His client was approached by an individual who said he would be able to get some payments.

"He doesn't have a propensity to behave dishonestly," said Mr Hussain. "He suspected something wasn't right but he went along with it. He didn't make the claims but the money was paid into his account and he kept some of it."