Pearly king jailed for benefits fraud

A disgraced pearly king was jailed for six months today after dishonestly claiming housing and council tax benefits totalling £18,862.

George Major, who has met the Queen as Peckham's pearly king, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to defrauding Epsom and Ewell council in Surrey where he now lives.

The 64-year-old grandfather was ordered to repay the money within 28 days at Guildford Crown Court.

Major, who was left with a crippled right hand after a misdiagnosed heart condition and who is profoundly deaf, had raised money for charity, gaining respectability as president of the Pearly Guild.

The of fences, which included falsely declaring for housing and council tax benefits, took place from 1987 into the late Nineties.

Major was also ordered to pay £3,000 in legal costs. The recorder told Major he was taking into account the defendant's ill-health and said he would be released in three months on a suspended sentence.