On the ball, £14k benef it cheat ‘who could hardly walk’
IN HIS disability benefit claim, Gary Wilson said he was so crippled by arthritis that it took him five minutes to walk 200 yards.
But on the football pitch he had a fine turn of pace as the star striker for his local team.
Wilson, 30, was secretly filmed by undercover investigators going on jinking runs, shooting and slide tackling – without showing any signs of discomfort. Over a threeand-a-half-year period, however, he pocketed £14,000 in Disability Living Allowance after claiming that he could barely walk.
The father-of-three was filmed by investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions playing up front for Steelmans Lounge FC in February last year.
Statistics from the website of Loft FC, another Wolverhampton Sunday League club which he played for in the 2014-2015 season, show he was a prolific scorer, hitting 26 goals and providing 15 assists in 16 appearances.
Wilson, who claimed that he once secured a professional contract with Newcastle United until an injury ended his career, also boasted on his club’s website that his best attribute on the pitch was his pace. But he told the DWP that he had severe mobility restrictions as well as care requirements because of crippling arthritis in his hip and spine.
He said he needed help to put on his shoes and socks and had difficulty getting out of bed and into the bath without assistance.
He also said that it took him around five minutes to walk 200 yards. And a year before the fraud started he maintained he needed crutches to get about.
Walsall Magistrates’ Court heard that between November 2012 and May last year he failed to admit that his capabilities had improved.
Wilson, of Wolverhampton, admitted two charges of failing to notify the DWP of a change in circumstance affecting social security benefit.
He trembled in the dock and looked unwell during his court case on Thursday. District Judge David Webster adjourned sentencing until November 15 because of Wilson’s illness and granted him unconditional bail.