Let-off jail...‘disabled’ £50,000 benefit cheat working as scaffolder

A DISABILITY benefits cheat pocketed more than £50,000 in handouts while shimmying up and down ladders as a scaffolder.

William Marshall, 65, is now having to pay back all his ill-gotten gains after admitting the blatant fraud.

Marshall initially claimed Disability Living Allowance (DLA) on the grounds he had arthritis, Stoke-onTrent Crown Court heard.

He later raked in employment support allowance (ESA) by claiming he worked fewer than 16 hours a week.

But Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators filmed him working as a scaffolder, lugging about poles and wooden boards.

Judge Paul Glenn gave Marshall a nine-month suspended jail sentence and a six-month electronically monitored curfew.

He told him: “Benefit fraud is prevalent. It is very easy to commit and very difficult to detect. The cost to the honest taxpayer is significant. You knew what you were doing.”

He added: “You have come as close as anyone can come to a custodial sentence without going away.” The court heard Marshall claimed DLA from 1996 and ESA for two-and-a-half years up to 2016.

Prosecutor Alexander PritchardJones said: “He was in receipt of benefits on the grounds of arthritis in his knee, back and shoulders.

“The DWP conducted surveillance and it transpired he was working as a scaffolder for more than 16 hours a week. The information on the claim form was wrong. He did not deserve the money he was receiving.”

Marshall, of Blurton, Stoke-onTrent, admitted two charges of failing to notify a change of circumstances.

Stuart Muldoon, defending, conceded that the offences were aggravated by the length of time over which the claims were made.

He said: “The DLA was given for life – there was no annual re-registration.

“He accepts by returning to work and not notifying the agency he is guilty of the offences.”

Marshall has repaid all of the ESA payments and is paying back the DLA at £100 a month.