‘£24k benefit cheat’s wax treatment was giveaway’

A BENEFITS cheat beautician came unstuck when she waxed the legs of a female undercover investigator, a court has heard.

Tracey Carter-Lunn claimed she had a crippled arm – but used both hands to perform the beauty treatment.

Carter-Lunn, 55, who is accused of swindling taxpayers out of £24,500, began claiming disability benefits in 2001 after suffering nerve damage in her right arm in an accident.

But despite the injury, in 2012 she set up the 50 Shades of Hair and Beauty salon in Efford, Plymouth.

Department for Work and Pensions officials became suspicious and sent undercover investigator Jess Hefford to pose as a customer, the city’s Crown Court was told this week.

After the leg wax, Carter-Lunn served Mrs Hefford with a cup of tea without spilling a drop.

The investigator told the court: “I had the impression she was quite steady.”

Further inquiries revealed Carter-Lunn had worked despite the arm injury as a hospital health care assistant for three years before buying the salon.

Her regular tasks included opening and closing fiddly specimen pots. Carter-Lunn admitted dishonestly failing to notify changed circumstances but disputed the amount she had falsely claimed.

She accepted her condition has improved but not to the extent alleged and insisted her false claims only started in 2013.

Regarding the investigator’s salon visit, she said: “There is no way in a million years I could have removed wax strips with my right hand.”

Recorder John Williams will decide on the level of CarterLunn’s false claims before sentencing.

The case continues.