A MAN claimed his boat had been stolen by burglars and made an insurance claim.

But the Flintshire resident was caught towing the boat away himself on ANPR cameras.

Kieran Andrew Kearney insured his boat for £13,000 and then reported to police that it had been stolen.

When officers later found it at the home of his former partner in Rhuddlan – when the white boat was now painted silver – he claimed police had not done their job properly.

He said he had found his boat himself at the home of a Polish man who moved it to his former partner’s address and he had not got around to telling officers about the discovery, prosecutor Ryan Rothwell told Mold Crown Court.

But it was all a lie – because he had been caught on ANPR cameras towing the boat away at Dobshill in Flintshire.

At the time he claimed someone had stolen it during a burglary at his home near Mold.

The court was told Kearney, 33, of Ffordd y Blaenau, Treuddyn, was currently serving a 27 month prison sentence imposed in February for growing cannabis on a commercial basis, illegally abstracting electricity, and a benefits fraud.

Judge Huw Rees jailed him for an additional six months consecutive to the sentence he is already serving and branded him a dishonest man.

“In 2016 you purchased a boat. In May last year you insured it for £13,000,” the judge told him.

When he applied for insurance he claimed not to have convictions when he did and last August claimed the boat had been stolen by burglars who ransacked his home.

He made an insurance claim but ANPR cameras had caught him towing it away in his Ford Ranger.

Kearney, said the judge, had continued the deception and made a signed statement to insurance investigators so that he could pursue the false claim.

Sarah Yates, defending, said Kearney had been interviewed last November but was not charged until February.

“If the police had got their act together then he could have been dealt with for all matters at the same time,” she said.

In February the court heard how he grew cannabis, claimed thousands of pounds in benefits and led something of an extravagant lifestyle.

For example he had been on holiday to Las Vegas and brazenly uploaded photographs of his trip onto Facebook despite claiming benefits illegally.

Judge David Hale told him he had effectively stolen money from the public to which he was not entitled and had gone off to Vegas.

He had deliberately set about growing cannabis and the time had come where he had to pay the price.

“This was deliberate, long term conduct on your part.

“You thought that you were above it all and that you could get away with it,” said Judge Hale.

He had got away with nearly £40,000 of taxpayers' money.

“You thought you were entitled to it and that you could spend it as you wished,” he said.

He also had a large number of cannabis plants in a sophisticated growing operation and had abstracted electricity to do so.

Kearney admitted that between 2013 and 2016 that he failed to disclose self-employed earnings to the Department for Work and Pensions when claiming employment support allowance and that between October 2015 and July 2016 he failed to inform Flintshire Council of his earnings when claiming housing benefit.

He admitted a similar offence involving Cheshire and Chester West Council between August 2013 and October 2015.

Kearney had already admitted producing 89 cannabis plants and illegally using more than £4,000 worth of electricity.

In February of last year police executed a search warrant at the home he rented in his own grounds in a rural location and found 32 large cannabis plants in the garage and about 57 baby and medium-sized plants in a second growing area inside the house.

It appeared to have been a continuing production of cannabis and a large growing area was also found containing cannabis bud.