Claiming that he never received his Giro cheque and then being issued with replacement Giro cheques before proceeding to cash both original and replacement cheques has led to an appearance before Fermanagh Magistrates Court for Vincent Rogers (29) from Yoan Road in Enniskillen.

The court heard that on dates between February 2005 and October 2005, the defendant faced five charges of presenting and signing both original and replacement Giro cheques when he knew that he had already cashed another Job Seekers Allowance cheque for the same period.

The Court was told that the cheques (both originals and replacements) were cashed at a number of locations, including banks and shops in and around Enniskillen.

The total overpayment in benefits was estimated to be £869.61 and the court also heard that, to date, only £60.90 had been repaid.

Defending, Garry Smyth told the court that Rogers had a significant record, with the vast majority of these being motoring, although there were also offences of burglary, theft and dishonesty on the record.

But, Mr Smyth submitted that there was absolutely nothing in the pipeline regarding this individual and he further said that his client admitted readily to the present offences. He contended that detection for crimes such as this, was inevitable and he added that his client was already working on repaying the monies he received.

However, he was instructed that the defendant had difficulties with alcohol and that a lot of this money would have been to feed this particular addiction. The Court heard that Rogers was receiving weekly counselling in the Aisling Centre.

The Resident Magistrate, Liam McNally, heard the details of the case on Monday but adjourned sentencing until Tuesday morning as he required time to read the entire details of the case.

"This was both a flagrant and blatant attempt by you to defraud the State of money, and you did this on five separate occasions," Mr McNally told the defendant. "You claimed you hadn't received your Job Seekers Allowance on five occasions when you had."

Delivering his sentencing, Mr McNally said that initially he thought the only disposal here was immediate custody.

However, he was mindful that, since these offences, the defendant had successfully completed a period of community service and had served a period in custody.

"Immediate custody will impact on your ability to repay back what you stole," he told Rogers.

Mr McNally deferred sentence for six months – until September – and told Rogers that, at that time, he will look for no further offences and at the amount of compensation he had paid.

Mr McNally told the defendant that if he was satisfied with him at that stage, he would impose a six month suspended prison sentence.

However, if the defendant had not done enough to meet the court's requirements, he would begin an immediate six month period in prison.