A former police officer from Haywards Heath has been jailed for nine months after he admitted benefit fraud worth £32,990.

Eric Wheldon, 61, claimed income support for six years after telling benefits staff his wife was not working.

He admitted ten specimen charges of fraudulently claiming benefit when he appeared at Hove Crown Court last month.

He asked for a further 304 cases to be taken into consideration when he returned for sentencing yesterday.

Wheldon, of Pinewood Court, Haywards Heath, had served ten years as a police officer in Hampshire and London.

He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and then went to Vietnam, where his hearing was damaged.

The court heard as a result he was transferred to a desk job, which led him to start drinking. He became an alcoholic.

He had an addiction to morphine and a number of previous convictions for shoplifting to provide money to buy alcohol.

Wheldon had suffered a broken hip after he was assaulted in the street and was unemployed when the fraud was committed, the court heard.

Nicholas Hall, prosecuting, said Wheldon had claimed income support between May 1994 and November 2000.

He signed forms declaring his wife was not working when she was in almost continuous employment.

Jennifer Barker, defending, said Wheldon's alcoholism was so severe he often did not know what he was doing.

He was receiving help for this and for depression and had started to repay the money. He had not claimed disability benefits to which he was entitled.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall told Wheldon: "You deliberately targeted the benefits system over some six years.

"It is such a serious offence that only a custodial sentence is appropriate."