Charity runner’s ‘£13k benefit con’

A SUSPECTED benefits cheat ran a 10k race to raise funds for a football team after claiming she could hardly walk, a trial has heard.

Perth Sheriff Court was yesterday told Beverley Dott had taken up running while still claiming the highest rate of mobility allowance provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Dott, who also completed two 5k runs dressed as Santa, is alleged to have fraudulently received £13,213.25 in benefits by failing to notify the DWP of a change in her condition.

The 52-year-old, who denies the charge, told the court: ‘I did do the Perth 10k, which I had to train for, for my son’s football team as a fundraiser.

‘I may have done the occasional 10k after that. When my fatigue is really bad I can’t walk across the room, I can’t stand up. It can happen any time of the day.’

Dott, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, told the court: ‘If I run, I suffer pain and fatigue. If I don’t run, I suffer pain and fatigue. It doesn’t make any difference. It gave me a couple of hours afterwards where I felt alive.’

The court heard Dott, of Scone, Perthshire, admitted to investigators, after being shown surveillance video, that she had been running up to 20k a week.

Dott had allegedy told the DWP she would ‘fall without physical support’ and could only walk 100 to 200 metres before feeling ‘severe discomfort’.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney said that he would issue his verdict at a later date.