Scots benefits cheat secretly filmed on 5k run after claiming she could barely walk

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A benefits cheat who was secretly filmed completing five kilometre runs when she claimed she could barely walk has been jailed for two years.

Annette Bond has also been ordered to pay back nearly £70,000 she conned from taxpayers under proceeds of crime legislation.Sheriff William Wood told her: "The rate of benefits awarded to you was dependent upon honest disclosure of your abilities.

On the basis of your application, you were awarded the highest rate of the care component and the higher rate of the mobility component of DLA."These are normally for those who...

cannot or are virtually unable to walk unaided. Former work colleagues clearly indicated you did not require either the level of care or impaired mobility required for the benefits you claimed."You rarely used a stick; you were able to get around the workplace unaided; you could negotiate stairs; and you were able to dance at a Christmas function."But by far the most graphic evidence in the trial that your condition had improved was the surveillance footage obtained by DWP investigators from 2017, recording your ability to run five km, over mixed terrain, more than once a week."I have noted you continue to maintain your innocence," Sheriff Wood said. "You must have known you did not meet the criteria for the benefits of which you were in receipt."Your conduct can only be characterised as a prolonged and egregious course of dishonesty, for which there is no excuse."You have obtained, through fraud, a significant sum of money to which you had no entitlement and you have deprived the taxpayer of funds that might have been usefully spent elsewhere."You have defrauded the state of a large sum of money over a protracted period.