A NEW report has revealed fraud by Southend Council workers rose by more than 5,000 per cent in a year...but it was all due to one man.

Housing manager Stuart Burrell conned taxpayers out of £307,000 to get homeless people off the streets.

The impact of his fraud was laid out in a new Audit Committee report released this week.

It revealed fraud at Southend Council by employees totalled £8,500 in 2017/18.

This rose to £307,401 in 2018/19.

Other details revealed in the counter fraud report show that money laundering cases rose by 366 per cent.

Social care fraud dropped to below £10,000 and blue badge fraud dropped by two third.s

However the biggest difference was caused by world champion escapologist Burrell.

43-year-old Burrell of Eastcote Grove, Southend, was jailed for 18 months for the fraud which he did not benefit personally from.

The strongman admitted three counts of fraud and one count of attempted fraud and was jailed in January and sacked from his position as a private sector housing manager for Southend Council.

He diverted taxpayers’ money to developers but insisted his only motivation was to try and get people off the housing waiting list.

Basildon Crown Court heard he had a breakdown after becoming overwhelmed by Southend’s housing crisis and decided to cut corners.

The first two counts related to Burrell authorising payments illegally to develop social housing.

The other counts relate to payments to a letting company which were supposed to be used for renovation work but were actually used to pay the rent for a vulnerable family at Christmas time who needed to move on advice from Essex Police.

Judge David Owen-Jones said: “You had a high position with substantial power to award funds for various projects. You were aware of the process to have access to these funds. You failed to follow the process and agreed funding when it would not normally have been authorised. You manufactured permission by forging letters.”