Former town council leader found guilty of disability benefit fraud

A former Labour town council leader was exposed as a disability benefit cheat after falsely claiming he could walk “zero meters for zero minutes” because of severe pain.

Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) investigators filmed Robert Woodbridge carrying out everyday tasks seemingly with ease.

On several occasions he was seen carrying items to his car, driving, walking up and down steep steps, pulling a trailer and even building a shed at his allotment.

Woodbridge, who also stood in elections for the Green Party and Liberal Democrats, denied dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances, claiming he had good days and bad days, but he was convicted by a jury in just 20 minutes.

The 58-year-old former Swanley Town Council leader, who suffers from inflammatory arthritis, claimed a higher rate of disability living allowance he was not entitled to, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Edmund Fowler said Woodbridge initially made a legitimate claim for the allowance in 1997.

But after he renewed his claim in December 2013 he received a higher rate “care component” on the basis he needed help both day and night and a higher rate mobility component on the basis he was virtually unable to walk.

As a result, he received an overpayment of £3,354 between August 12, 2015 and January 26 last year.

Mr Fowler said Woodbridge’s renewal form stated a number of things that no longer applied.

Woodbridge gave a prepared statement in which he claimed the severity of his pain fluctuated, and that some days he was immobile and others he could move.

He claimed the DWP filmed him on good days when he had “overdosed” on painkillers.

Woodbridge, of Garrolds Close, Swanley, was granted bail until sentencing.