A Dundee man fraudulently pocketed almost £44,000 in benefits payments.

James Findlay, 67, of Hindmarsh Avenue, said he had no income other than jobseeker's allowance, no cash in the bank and no prospect of any income.

Weeks later he received a tax-free lump sum of more than £54,000 from his pension scheme as well as regular payments from it, which he hid from the Department for Work and Pensions and Dundee City Council.

As a result they paid him £27,000 in pension credit and £16,800 in housing and council tax benefit.

Findlay admitted "dragging his heels" by lying about his income and receiving the payouts as a result.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "When he made his initial claim on January 13, 2010, he was asked if he was receiving a pension from his previous employment and he said no.

"In 2014, intelligence was received that he was in fact receiving an occupational pension from Equitable Life.

"An investigation found that on March 22, 2010, he received a tax free lump som of £54,181.11."

She added: "He also began receiving his occupational pension on April 1 2010. He did not inform DWP or Dundee City Council of this.

"He said in interview that he had written to DWP but there was no record of this. He then said he had dragged his heels for a time.

"It was put to him that he had actively lied and he made no comment during the interview from then on."

Solicitor advocate Jim Laverty, defending, said: "There have been repayments made during the lifetime of the investigation."

The 67-year-old, pleaded guilty on indictment to two charges under the Social Security Administration Act committed between May 2010 and December 2013.

Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released Findlay on bail.