Restaurant worker in £85k incapacity benefit fraud

Report by BBC Isle of Man

A man who fraudulently claimed more than £85,000 in incapacity benefit while working for several employers has been sentenced.

Vincent McGee, 27, initially claimed the Social Security payments in August 2018 while working as a barman at an Italian restaurant.

Douglas Courthouse heard he submitted 54 sick notes to the benefit office and confirmed 240 times that his circumstances had not changed before the fraud was revealed in June 2025.

McGee, of Baldwin Road in Douglas, was handed a 22-month sentence, suspended for two years, along with a supervision order for the same period.

The court heard he had been working at the restaurant since 11 July 2018 and initially made the claim for Incapacity Benefit on 2 August the same year.

He filled out renewed declaration forms on three occasions with the Social Security division and had confirmed there had been no change in his eligibility for the payments when using the government's MiCard system to collect the money on 240 occasions.

The court was told he had had several other periods of employment while receiving the payments including a job as a retail assistant at a petrol station.

The prosecution advocate said the claims had been fraudulent from the outset with a total of £85,524 in benefit payments being made to McGee.

The investigation had been triggered when he applied for an Income Support loan to help buy cutlery after moving home and checks of his bank statements uncovered his earnings, she added.

However his defence advocate said he had confessed his fraud in a phone call to the Social Security division during a period of poor mental health in mid-June 2025 and, while that "might not have started" the investigation, he "did call" them.

She added that he had made the initial claim due to financial pressures at the time but had since taken steps to stabilise his finances with the help of debt services and was attempting to pay the money back at a rate of £40 a week.

The court was told McGee had ADHD and autism and a report to the court had noted he was displaying signs of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder.

Deemster Graeme Cook said as it was "unclear" whether or not it was his confession that had triggered the investigation he would give him "the benefit of the doubt".

The deemster said it was an "extremely large amount" of money, that "certainly on its own would justify an immediate custodial sentence".

But he said there was no evidence of an extravagant lifestyle and sending him to prison for a few months would serve "no useful purpose to the public".

He made a compensation order of £3,000 to be paid to the social security division at a rate of £30 a week taken from McGee's benefits.