A Labour Carlisle city councillor convicted of benefits fraud has been asked to resign by his most senior political colleague.

Barrie Osgood, 44, who tried to blame depression and anxiety for his crime, denied fraudulently claiming £3,500 in housing benefit but he was convicted after a four hour trial at the city's magistrates' court.

The court heard how his claim – which was handled by the local authority which he was elected to serve – failed to declare that he owned and rented out a property he owned in Currock.

He is due to be sentenced today. Conservative politicians in the city have already called for Mr Osgood to step down as a councillor.

He has been a councillor since being elected to represent Castle ward in the May 2015 local elections.

In a statement, Carlisle City Council Leader Colin Glover, the most senior Labour politician at the authority, said Osgood must go.

“We expect the highest standard of conduct from our elected representatives and it is only right that residents should be able to trust those who are elected to represent them," he said.

“As soon as Councillor Osgood was found guilty of this serious charge, the Labour Party acted quickly and he was suspended and disciplinary procedures have commenced.

“Whilst I acknowledge that the offence was committed before Councillor Osgood became a councillor, he has let down the people of Castle ward who elected him, the Council and his Carlisle City Council colleagues.

“As a result of the guilty verdict, I believe that his position as a councillor is untenable and I am asking him to resign from the council with immediate effect and apologise to those who placed their trust in him.”

Mr Glover was away on holiday when the trial concluded last Thursday. Within hours of the verdict, senior Conservative councillors were calling for him to go, saying that his continued presence as a councillor could bring the Labour led authority into disrepute.

“We do not believe that Councillor Osgood is a fit and proper person,” said a statement issued by the group. Mr Osgood, of Lamb Street, Upperby, declined to comment when approached by our sister paper The Cumberland News.

During his trial, he claimed that he had taken the housing benefit because of a “pure and utter mistake”.

The trial heard that the form gave Mr Osgood three clear opportunities to confirm that he had an alternative income source – yet he repeatedly fialed to do so.

He then signed the form's declaration of truth knowing that the information he gave was neither complete nor accurate.

Related: Tories call for resignation of Labour city councillor convicted of benefit fraud

Related: Carlisle city councillor's £3,500 housing benefit fraud

“You lied because you knew you would not get benefit if you told the truth,” said the prosecutor Andy Travis during the trial.

In his evidence, Mr Osgood had insisted that anxiety and depression meant that he was not thinking straight when he filled out the form, which led to him getting the housing benefit illegally for eleven months.

He told investigators: "If I was going to deceive anyone, I think I'd have come up with something a bit better than that.

Mr Osgood became the Castle ward councillor after polling 940 votes - 269 more than his nearest rival, Conservative rival Lawrence Fisher.