FORMER Darlington Football Club manager and one-time Sunderland captain Gary Bennett was yesterday cleared of making fraudulent claims for tax benefits.

Mr Bennett, 44, who appeared with his wife, Audrey, 50, had denied charges of false accounting arising out of forms they had jointly signed to claim tax credit for their son.

Sunderland magistrates heard Mr Bennett had told Inland Revenue investigators at one stage: "It's true what they say about footballers. They are not the brainiest. They'll sign anything put in front of them."

Yesterday, the bench accepted his account that he had not read the small print of forms filled in by his wife, and ruled he had not acted dishonestly.

The court was told the couple, of Kirkside Estate, New Herrington, Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, had been overpaid by £4,298 as a result of failing to declare Mr Bennett's earnings.

Susan Hirst, prosecuting, said when the couple had filled in a tax credit form for the tax year 2001/2 it declared Mr Bennett had been in receipt of job seekers' allowance, which he was not.

The couple also failed to mention Mr Bennett's employment as manager of Darlington Football Club, for which he was paid £18,258.

When the Bennetts received a renewal form in May 2004, asking if there had been any change of circumstance, they omitted to include details of Mr Bennett's employment as a freelance commentator for BBC Radio Newcastle at Sunderland matches.

His income for the 2002/3 tax year had been more than £17,000. Ms Hirst said: "These were deliberate omissions to ensure the couple received more tax credit than what they were entitled to."

Mrs Bennett, who was self-employed as a cleaner with her firm Domestic Darlings, told the court she had not filled in her husband's details, as required, because she thought he was getting a separate form.

Mr Bennett told the court his wife had filled in the forms and he had signed them without looking at the content. "I never read the small print," he said.

He was cleared of two charges of false accounting. Mrs Bennett was found not guilty of the first charge but guilty of the second, as magistrates said she must have known by then her husband had been working for nine months. She was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £200 costs.

Mr Bennett played for Sunderland between 1984 and 1995 and captained the side from 1991 to 1994. In August 2000, he was appointed manager of Darlington FC. He quit in October 2001.