BACKGROUND reports have been ordered into a 62-year-old man at Selkirk Sheriff Court after he admitted receiving almost £30,000 in benefits he was not entitled to.

Richard Bridges of Maidenhall Farm Cottages, St Boswells, pleaded guilty to obtaining Income Related Employment and Support Allowance of £29,738.45 without declaring he was receiving payments from pension plans.

The offence happened over a five year period at a house near Earlston.

Bridges told the court he had paid back all the money.

Sheriff Peter Paterson said it was a serious matter and deferred sentence until September 23 for the production of a Criminal Justice Social Work Report and a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment.