Blair’s ex- minder faces jail for £ 50,000 benefits con to live the high life
Daily Express Friday September 4 2015 A FORMER bodyguard to Tony Blair faces jail after swindling £ 50,000 in benefits while enjoying luxury cruises and sending his two children to private school.
Vaughan Dodds, 45, was part of a special police team guarding the former prime minister’s constituency home in County Durham.
It was alleged he made fake claims on behalf of himself and his wife Mandy over their health and reported that they had less than £ 16,000 in savings, when he had inherited £ 250,000.
Dodds complained that on retirement after 14 years service he was stricken by chronic fatigue syndrome that was so bad, he was often unable to leave his home.
He also made fake claims on behalf of his wife Mandy, saying a chronic hearing condition left her unable to bear even the sound of toilet paper tearing from a roll.
But fraud investigators filmed the couple at their son’s school music concert and discovered they had listened to a DJ next swimming pool on holiday.
The pair enjoyed numerous foreign holidays and attended motorcycle training courses and gyms.
The former Durham officer, who provided protection for Mr Blair during the 1990s, was left the £ 250,000 by his father in 2007.
At Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday, Dodds, of Langley
to
a Moor, Durham, was convicted of nine counts of dishonestly claiming more than £ 50,000 in Disability Living Allowance, income support and council tax relief between April 2005 and December 2009.
He was cleared of three further charges relating to council tax and housing benefit.
Dodds was bailed to return for sentencing on October 16.