A builder has been jailed after secret video caught him working as a handyman despite claiming £65,000 in benefits because he was too weak to even put on his socks.
Keith Webster, 59 from Swansea, Wales, was caught on video carrying a beam of wood and working as a handyman and kitchen fitter.
Swansea Crown Court heard how Webster claimed disability allowance because he was unable to walk but was then filmed regularly moving heavy equipment into the back of his van.
Keith Webster, 59, was secretly filmed carrying a beam of wood after claiming £65,000 because he said he was too weak to put on his socks
Prosecutor Eugene Egan said Webster claimed council tax and housing benefit, employment support allowance, income support and disability allowance over six years.
He said: ‘He claimed he could not walk more than 40 yards due to his physical ailments, and was not able to put his own socks on.’
An undercover team for the Department of Work and Pensions caught Webster out when after spotting him doing manual work and running his own home improvement business, KW Installations, in Swansea.
Webster said that he could not walk more than 40 yards because of his physical ailments but a Department of Work and Pensions team caught him moving heavy equipment from his van
The court heard that the total amount Webster fiddled was £65,424.88.
Mr Egan added: ‘Bank records showed Webster regularly had savings well over the £16,000 benefit claim limit, and on occasions his capital was in excess of £60,000.’
Webster admitted six counts of dishonestly failing to notify the authorities about a change of circumstance.
He was jailed for one year.
Recorder Christopher Clee QC said: ‘This was thoroughly dishonest behaviour committed over a significant period of time. The reality is, you worked as a self-employed builder, and bought and sold cars.
‘In these difficult times the benefit system is there for people who need it – not for people like you.’
The builder, who claimed council tax and housing benefit, employment support allowance, income support and disability allowance over six years, has now been jailed for a year