THE former owner of Cromwells Nursing Home, Thornton-in-Craven, has been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to illegally claiming benefits for his residents amounting to over £85,000.

Michael Harry Bovensiepen, 46, of Rupert Road, Ilkley, pleaded guilty to 69 counts of obtaining money by deception and false accounting in July this year.

At Leeds Crown Court this week, he pleaded guilty to another four counts of forging documents, but denied four allegations of using the forged instruments to obtain loans. The not guilty counts were left to lie on file.

Prosecuting, Colin Harvey said between 1991 and 1998 Bovensiepen, who co-owned Cromwell's Nursing Home and Thornton Hill Residential Home, both on the same site, used the patients in his care to claim illegal benefits.

The court heard he had claimed the higher benefit awarded for nursing care for residents who did not need it, and that when inspectors visited the home Bovensiepen moved patients from the residential home to the nursing home to try to hide the discrepancies.

Bovensiepen, who claimed an £80,000 salary, also continued to claim benefits for residents after they had died.

Mr Harvey said the defendant had set up a system whereby he could cash in money at the post office on behalf of elderly, infirm or frail residents.

"There is no criticism of the nature of the care that the residents of Thornton Hill or Cromwells received but the monies to achieve that standard were dishonestly acquired over a period of seven years," said Mr Harvey.

The more recent forgery charges were committed while Bovensiepen was on bail from Bradford Crown Court awaiting sentence.

Mr Harvey said the defendant had visited an accountant in Ilkley to discuss buying Home Croft Residential Home in Ilkley.

Having met the accountant, Bovensiepen created his own documents and accounts using the accountant's name and generating paperwork on a home computer.

"He was thwarted by the due diligence of others," said Mr Harvey.

Employees at the banks where Bovensiepen had submitted the papers to try to obtain the loan had queried the application.

Defending Sean Morris said Bovensiepen had always lived in the shadow of his brother, Robert, and he had wanted to make his new business a success.

But when the nursing home business got up and running it became too much for him. "It has taken all this to come crashing down for Michael Bovensiepen to realise he is not a Robert Bovensiepen. He was out of his league," said Mr Morris.

The defence solicitor claimed that Bovensiepen had already tried to take his own life.

He added that most of the money he had falsely claimed went back into the nursing home maintenance to provide the well run home he had dreamt of, and on his sons' school fees.

Judge Peter Armstrong sentenced Bovensiepen to 18 months imprisonment for each offence to run concurrently.

He said: "You have no previous convictions and you are 46 years old. It is very sad when someone in that position has to be sent to prison but I am afraid that is the position today."