Benefits cheat who falsely claimed £50,000 jailed

A benefits cheat who falsely claimed more than £50,000 has been jailed after he was seen driving to work at his vehicle repair business.

Nathan Wood, 58, of Beacon Road in Bradford, was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2014 but "overstated his symptoms" and made a fraudulent claim for a personal independence payment (PIP) a year later.

By 2020 he said he was reliant on a wheelchair and was unable to work, having to pay a carer for help - but in 2023, he was seen leaving home in a van, collecting colleagues and working during the day.

At Bradford Crown Court, he admitted dishonestly making a false representation to obtain benefits and was jailed for 16 months.

Prosecutor Ryan Donoghue said Wood had stated in a 2018 PIP review form that his health conditions had worsened and he needed a walking frame or wheelchair.

He also said he could no longer drive or cope with working on his knees.

Co-defendant Laura Clayton, who admitted dishonestly causing or allowing Wood to fail to notify the Department for Work and Pensions about a change in his circumstances, became involved in the offending in 2020.

In a letter supporting his PIP review she stated that she was his carer and saw him in pain every day.

Donoghue said Clayton, 40, of Eaglesfield Drive in Bradford, acted as Wood's representative in an appeal against the removal of his benefits.

The court heard how in August 2023, Wood was caught on camera driving his work van to a sports centre where he was then seen walking through the car park before going into the changing rooms and entering the swimming pool.

Donoghue said Wood had received benefit payments totalling just over £53,800.

Lauren Smith, acting for the two defendants, said they had expressed their deep remorse and made no excuses for what had happened.

She said there was no suggestion that Clayton had received "a cut" for her role in the offending.

She told Recorder Taryn Turner that Wood, who had been receiving benefit payments of up £450 a month, was now paying back £65 a month under a repayment plan.

Recorder Turner jailed Wood for 16 months and sentenced Clayton to five months in prison suspended for 12 months.

Clayton must also do 80 hours unpaid work.

"These are serious offences," she told the defendants.

"Benefit fraud over a prolonged period of time undermines the integrity of the social security system."

She said Wood had maintained his dishonest claim through review forms, assessments, correspondence and appeals when payments were temporarily halted.

"Throughout that period you represented your medical condition severely restricted your mobility and daily functioning," she told Wood.

But she said he had been seen driving, walking unaided, swimming and operating his car repair business.

"This was not an isolated act of dishonesty," said the judge.

"It was a sustained fraud maintained over many years and involving repeated false representations to preserve your entitlement to benefits."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.