Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Stuart Abel

Disability benefits cheat filmed running at Crufts after scamming £12k told to cough up the cash

A disability benefits cheat has been ordered to pay back almost £11,000 after she was caught running around with dogs at Crufts.

Dopey dog trainer Linda Avery claimed she could hardly walk but was captured on camera running around a ring at a show.

The 57-year-old has now been handed a community order with unpaid work.

The former mealtime assistant was ordered back to court as the Department for Work and Pensions sought their money back under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Linda Avery claimed disability benefits while performing at Crufts (Plymouth Live / SWNS.com)

Plymouth Crown Court heard that she had been overpaid £12,538 in Disability Living Allowance over two years.

Judge Paul Darlow ordered her to pay £10,970 over the next three months, PlymouthLive reports.

Avery could be jailed for seven months if she fails to do so.

The court heard that she had assets assessed as about £78,000, including her share in a home.

Sally Daulton, for the department, said pictures posted on Facebook showing Avery exhibiting at Crufts showed just how long she had been cheating the system.

A judge at Plymouth Crown Court ordered her to pay back almost £11,000 (DWP / SWNS)

She said that the defendant had already paid back the balance of the money owed to the department.

Avery claimed she needed a walking aid or sticks to get around and even needed someone to cut up her food, the court heard in March.

But officers from the Department for Work and Pensions secretly filmed her parading, grooming and lifting dogs at a show in Paignton.

 
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.