Doctor accused of fraud

Doctor accused of fraud

A doctor pleaded poverty to swindle the taxpayer out of pounds 26,000 in income support, a court heard. But Edward Young, 53, was treating hundreds of patients for up to pounds 4,000 a month, it was alleged.

Inner London Crown Court heard that during the two years he was going to his Department of Social Security office he earned pounds 39,000 and pounds 10,000 in rent on a house he owned in Glasgow, said the prosecutor, Edward Brown.

Dr Young, of Valleyfield Road, Streatham, south-west London, denies four counts of deception. Mr Brown said that in 1993 Dr Young stopped working and applied for income support which rose to pounds 250 a week. "He was legitimately entitled to that ... but 10 months later he began practising as a doctor again, earning what you may think were significant sums as a locum," the barrister told the jury. "However, he also continued to claim income support dishonestly for two or more years." The hearing was adjourned to today.