'Exiled' welfare fraudster granted appeal

A Victorian software designer who used multiple identities, including the names of dead children, to dupe Centrelink out of more than $125,000 has been granted permission to appeal against his sentence.

David Alan Knipe says the home detention sentence he is serving in Adelaide, where he was caught and convicted, feels like "exile" because he can't see his family or work on his software business.

"In Ancient Rome, exile is one down from execution," he told the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday, representing himself.