Five-year sentence for €478k welfare fraud

A father-of-four who used false IDs to fraudulently claim almost half a million euro in social welfare payments over 12 years has been sentenced to five years in prison.

David Church of Parnell Street, Dublin and formerly Monadreen, Thurles, Co Tipperary, faced 199 charges of unlawfully claiming Jobseekers' Allowance and Rent Allowance at various Dublin post offices between 2002 and 2013.