WATCH: Benefit fraudster 'who could barely walk' caught on camera playing bowls
A woman who played bowls while falsely claiming up to £44,500 in incapacity benefits has been warned she could be jailed.
Rebecca Peach got away with claiming she could barely walk for at least five years and possibly more, a judge heard.
Then the Department of Work and Pensions got a tip and their investigators secretly filmed the 49-year-old playing crown green bowls without showing any no sign of discomfort.
WATCH the footage here:
The tell-tale video – shot at the Amery Unionist Bowling Club in Coppice Lane, Willenhall on Sept 3 2017 – shows the supposedly badly disabled woman jogging up and down steps and around the perimeter of the bowling green.
She is also seen bending down to deliver her bowl, gleefully punching the air in triumph after a good shot and running across the bowling green with a tape measure.
Peach looked a very different person in the dock at Wolverhampton Crown Court when, close to tears, she admitting fraudulently failing to disclose to the DWP that her capabilities had improved with the intention of making a gain for herself.
Bogus
Prosecutor Mr Jamie Scott maintained the bogus benefit payouts, which were not fraudulent from the outset, ran from March 9 2011 to November 29 2017, initially as Disability Living Allowance until it was changed to Personal Independence Living Allowance in February 2016.
The illegal payments may have involved almost £45,000 but Mr Charles Crinion, defending, argued the fraud did not begin until July 23 2012.
The prosecution were given 14 days to decide whether acceptance of that would make a significant difference to her sentence.
Peach, from Lodge Street, Willenhall and with no previous convictions, had claimed during her benefit claims that she was in severe pain while walking, was regularly forced to stop and needed two crutches because her legs gave way without warning.
She alleged that she never went out alone, needed help to cook and dress herself and had pain in her legs, knees and back.
Meanwhile she was apparently playing bowls up to four days a week and represented teams in several local leagues in Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire.
Mr Crinion said that depression, from which the defendant had supposedly suffered for several years, had got worse recently.
She was remanded on bail for reports to be prepared before she is sentence in April and was told by Judge James Burbidge QC: “You have had the good sense to admit your responsibility for defrauding the public purse and that is a serious crime.”
He warned she might face the prospect of a prison sentence.
The DWP said: “Only a small minority of benefit claimants are dishonest, but cases like this show how we are catching those who cheat the system and divert taxpayers’ money from the people who need it.
“We are determined to catch those we suspect of fraudulently claiming benefits by following up on tip-offs, undertaking surveillance and working with local councils.”
