Trial opens of Inverness councillor John Holden on £43K fraud charges

John Holden arrives at court for trial.

THE trial of an Inverness councillor facing benefit fraud charges totalling more than £43,000 opened at the city’s sheriff court today.

John Holden (62), of Teal Avenue, is a representative for the Inverness South ward on Highland Council.

He pled not guilty to a series of fraud charges when proceedings opened.

He is charged with falsely claiming income support between January 1999 and August 2008 in excess of £34,000 and council tax benefit of £6,925.24 and single occupancy of more than £2,309.73 by claiming he lived alone, had no capital and was not in employment between January 6, 1999 and August 31, 2008.

An alternative to the council tax fraud charge is that he knowingly failed to notify Highland Council of his change of circumstances, that he lived with his wife, had capital and was in employment, and that his wife had capital and was in employment.

He faces a further charge of failing to give prompt notification to the Benefits Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions of his change of circumstances, which he knew would affect his entitlement to income support.

He is charged with failing to notify them that he no longer lived alone and that he had capital and was in employment and that his wife had capital and was in employment, thereby obtaining income support in excess of £34,337.48 to which he was not entitled.

Holden denies the charges and the trial is expected to last several weeks.

Originally scheduled to start on January 7, Holden’s solicitor Michael Chapman had to seek an extension to prepare the defence case because of the amount of evidence and number of witnesses involved.

He had told Inverness Sheriff Court at a previous hearing the timespan involved in the charges was almost 10 years and that has led to a considerable number of Crown productions being examined.

It took the Procurator Fiscal’s department months to prepare this prosecution. Thirty-seven witnesses have been called by Crown and potentially nine witnesses will be called by the defence.

Elected in 2007, Holden represents people in Slackbuie, Inshes, Milton of Leys, Westhill, Tomatin and Daviot on Highland Council.

The Labour councillor has been suspended from the party’s group on the council until the court case is resolved.