CALDERDALE'S leading BNP councillor is due to appear in court to face five charges of benefit fraud.

Richard Mulhall, of Mozley Drive, Illingworth, Halifax, has been summoned to appear before Calderdale magistrates after an investigation by the Department of Work and Pensions and Calderdale Council.

It is believed the total amount allegedly involved is £3,000.

Councillor Mulhall, leader of the BNP group on Calderdale Council, is charged with making a false representation to obtain jobseeker's allowance, two similar charges relating to housing benefit and a further two charges involving council tax benefit. All the offences are alleged to have taken place between 23 January 2003, and 15 March 2005.

He said today he would be pleading not guilty and claimed the outstanding monies relating to council tax and housing benefit had been repaid following an overpayment to him. He said his solicitor was puzzled as to why those charges had been brought.

He said he claimed jobseeker's allowance before becoming a councillor and was not aware of what he allegedly owed the Department of Work and Pensions.

"I might be best insisting to go to Crown Court for a fair trial,'' said Coun Mulhall (Illingworth and Mixenden).

"If they are going to go for it let's open a can of worms."

He was the second member of the party to win a seat on Calderdale Council in 2003 making him the second BNP councillor in West Yorkshire. Just months before becoming councillor for Illingworth he had been the campaign manager for the first ever BNP councillor in the county – Adrian Marsden who won a seat in the Mixenden by-election.

Councillor Mulhall won the Illingworth seat with a majority of 56, polling a total of 896 votes. He is up for re-election in 2007.

He has been a member of the BNP for more than 15 years and also stood for election in Illingworth in 1998 but he was beaten by Labour councillor Tom McElroy.

He is a member of the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel and a substitute member on the Planning Committee and Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel. He is also on the community services grants panel. He is a member of the Mixenden Community Association management committee and Mixenden Parents Resource Centre management committee.