SLIM FATBOY IN BENEFITS FRAUD SCAM
50 stone slimmer’s shame
AN obese scrounger who tried to lose 20st on TV has been convicted of benefit fraud.
Terry Lee Gardner, 35, appeared on TV’s Weight Loss Ward in at attempt to battle his near 50st bulge.
He had been receiving the highest level of Disability Living Allowance after claiming he could walk only three metres before feeling discomfort.
But investigators found he could actually walk 1.2 miles in about 40 minutes.
Iain Jordan, prosecuting, told South Tyneside magistrates:
“He was 47st but managed to lose a significant amount of weight. He learned to drive in
2014 and he held a season ticket for Sunderland AFC. He accepted he had failed to declare the health improvement. It’s not a great deal of money but it is being repaid.”
The court heard Gardner, of Houghton, Co Durham, owed £8,034.89. The married dad-of-three admitted dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit and dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances.
District judge Roger Elsey fined him £60 and ordered him to pay a £60 surcharge and £50 costs. Mr Elsey said: “You have lost your good character. You now have a serious conviction for the offence of dishonesty.”
The show followed patients at Sunderland Royal Hospital as doctors tried to address the chronic national obesity crisis. BATTLE: Gardner