A MAN who lent out his spare benefit cash has been spared prosecution because he has a phobia of leaving home.

One of the reasons Colin Watson was able to amass a surplus from his benefits was that he had not gone outside for several years, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The 62-year-old, who suffers from agoraphobia – fear of wide-open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions – admitted lending money, but denied doing so to make a profit.

Prosecutors abandoned their case because no practical way could be found to hold a trial and he was cleared of two charges of lending money without a Consumer Credit licence, one of operating an unlicensed money lending business and one of concealing criminal property between 2007 and 2009.

During a series of earlier hearings, defence barrister Brian Russell said Mr Watson, who has regular stress-related fits, received “an extraordinary amount of public money as a result of his various conditions”. “He receives this money legitimately, but it’s far in excess of his physical needs because he never gets out,” said Mr Russell.

He said Mr Watson, of Ridley Court, Middlesbrough, was fit to plead, but his medical condition had largely kept him housebound for six years.

At the same hearing in February, both Judge John Walford and Caroline Goodwin, prosecuting for Middlesbrough Council, expressed scepticism.

Judge Walford, who called for a report into Mr Watson’s medical conditions, said: “The issue is whether there is a way of him having a fair trial that may not require him physically to be present in court.”

Miss Goodwin said: “The defendant makes an admission as to the lending of monies. He was not possessed of a licence.

Factually, the case is met.”

At another hearing last December, the court was told that Mr Watson had left his home once in the past three years for a dental appointment, and had to be medicated.

He was interviewed by police at home and said he lent money to family members.

Speaking through his intercom yesterday, Mr Watson said he had received £78,000 in benefits over six years and claimed he had given £15,000 to family for his funeral fund, which the Crown Prosecution Service alleged was gained from criminal enterprise.

Mr Watson said he had suffered strokes, a heart attack and deep vein thrombosis, which along with his agoraphobia, allows him to claim incapacity benefit. “I think I shouldn’t have been investigated,”

he said.

Neighbours confirmed that they see relatives visiting Mr Watson, but they had not seen Mr Watson leave the house in recent years.