Liam Pattison, 34, of New Zealand Road in Heath, Cardiff, was employed at Dragon Studios for a week in summer 2019 on the set of Brave New World, a short-lived TV series based on Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel.
Pattison was one of 150 subcontractors drafted in to prepare the set at the Bridgend-based studio by 4Wood TV and Film, but continued to claim for work long after being told his services were no longer required.
Joshua Scouller, prosecuting, said many of those employed by 4Wood had been recruited through social media or word of mouth, and “not a great deal of due diligence was done in respect of payment of invoices”.
He said the company’s bookkeeper had paid invoices on the basis they were genuine unless there were any obvious abnormalities.
Pattison submitted 27 false invoices from June 2019 to January 2020, Cardiff Crown Court heard on Monday.
His fraud was finally spotted when he continued to claim for seven-day weeks and double time on a Sunday, despite the fact the amount of work available had dropped off considerably.
Bosses at the company also found that his car had not been to the studios since June 2019.
The court heard Pattison submitted invoices worth 36,000, although only 33,120 was paid out.
4Wood said the fraud had made it tougher to weather the pandemic, and forced it to make more redundancies.
Pattison admitted fraud by false representation.
He has previous convictions for robbery, criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon and sexual assault,...
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