Benefit cheat illegally claimed £39,000 and failed to declare savings for daughter Paul Reynolds, 59, from Newport, illegally claimed employment support allowance and housing benefit for five years Paul Reynolds 'now has no money left,' a judge was told (Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library) A benefit fraudster claimed more than £39,000 illegally despite having savings of thousands of pounds which he set aside for his teenage daughter. Paul Reynolds, 59, of Newport, failed to declare savings of £30,000 to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Newport council and illegally received employment support allowance (ESA) and housing benefit between 2013 and 2018. When the benefit system changed in 2012 he was required to provide his circumstances but he told the authorities he did not have any bank accounts and only possessed a Post Office account which had a balance of nil. The defendant also denied having any savings exceeding the maximum amount of £5,500.