A RUGBY coach from Leominster who claimed £15,000 in benefits while he was working for a coal merchant has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Mark Morris needed extra money to look after the new partner he had met online from Holland, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Paul Mytton, prosecuting, told the court that Morris claimed benefits between September 2012 and December 2013 and again in May last year but he was working on a self-employed basis at the time and earning £8 an hour, around £15,000 a year.

He claimed a total of £7,362 in jobseekers allowance, £6,854 in housing benefit and £654 in council tax support, a total of £15,604.

Morris, of George Street, Leominster, pleaded guilty to three fraud charges.

John Dyer, defending, said Morris had a good working record but his hours with the coal merchant were reduced at the end of the winter.

"He found himself with little work and in debt," Mr Dyer said. He had been earning over £30,000 in 2008 but work fell away and he had separated from his wife.

He tried to get work in the building trade as well as gaining a qualification in computers but he was laid off and signed on for benefits.

"He met somebody online from Holland and he wanted to provide for her," Mr Dyer said.

Morris, he told the court, was also a well respected rugby coach in his home town.

Judge Michael Cullum said the claim had not been fraudulent from the outset.

"There was some to-ing and fro-ing in your work but you knew you were not allowed to claim benefits," he told Morris. "This was simply theft from the state."

He said Morris had obtained a large amount of money, the equivalent of a year's wages for him at the time.

Morris was given a 12 week jail sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work in that time, concurrent on each charge.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £250.