Jail for ‘marathon man’ in £38k disability scam

A COUPLE scammed almost £40,000 in disability benefits by claiming the husband “could barely walk” – even though he had run two marathons.

Graham and April Totterdell, from Dover, have been jailed for the “breathtaking” rip-off carried out while they had large savings and owned two houses.

A judge at Canterbury Crown Court told mother-of-two Totterdell, 48, that she was “a liar of epic proportions” after trying to blame her husband for the fraud.

He said she had willingly connived with her husband to fake the disability between 2009 and 2015. Her husband, now 72, had been awarded the highest rate of disability living allowance after the couple claimed he could barely walk and “was a frail old man”.

The jury heard his wife had signed benefit application forms claiming he needed a frame, a stick and crutches because of two injuries.

She even wrote on one appeal that her husband was so doddery she had to put toothpaste on his brush. However, prosecutor Ian Foinette said Totterdell competed in runs across Kent and ran the London Marathon twice. Judge James O’Mahony said the couple had shown “breathtaking hypocrisy”. He jailed the wife for 18 months and the husband, who admitted fraud at an earlier hearing, for 14 months. He also warned them that they now face efforts to claw back the £38,000 under the Proceeds Of Crime Act. The couple also face a “hefty” legal bill for the trials.