A benefits cheat who claimed £81,000 over 14 years was told by a judge, ‘hard working people feel revulsion for people like you’, as she escaped a jail sentence.
Linda Hoey claimed she was too disabled to walk, could not perform household chores, get dressed without assistance and needed a walking stick at all times to help her climb stairs.
The 58-year-old from Tamworth in Staffordshire fraudulently claimed some £65,244 in Disability Living Allowance and used her disability car to avoid paying £15,690 in M6 toll charges.
But she was caught out when investigators found holiday photos of her snorkelling and quad biking in the Maldives.
Linda Hoey, 58, from Tamworth leaving Staffordshire Crown Court today surrounded by family after being sentenced for benefit fraud
Hoey claimed degenerative arthritis and back problems meant she was unable to stretch her arms above her head – but photos showed her enjoying snorkelling on holiday
She was caught out when pictures from her holiday in Egypt and the Maldives to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary were passed to the Department for Work and Pensions
Hoey had claimed degenerative arthritis and back problems meant she could only walk a yard a minute, and was unable to stretch her arms above her head.
But she was caught when pictures from her holiday in Egypt and the Maldives to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary to husband Michael were passed to the Department for Work and Pensions.
Inquiries also revealed that she was a member of a gym, and had been attending regular swimming and badminton lessons.
At Stafford Crown Court today Hoey was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a six-month night time curfew.
Recorder Michael Elsom told her: ‘Hard-working people feel revulsion for people like you who deliberately hide the truth from the public purse.
‘The fact that you are now shunned by your neighbours comes as no surprise what so ever. You are somebody whose word cannot be trusted.
‘What an example you have set for your children. The photographs portrayed a completely different way of life to that portrayed by you, your husband and son.
‘The assertions you made were nothing but bare faced lies which you continued during your trial. You have not shown any remorse at any stage.’
But the judge accepted that the benefits claims had not been fraudulent from the outset but she had not been honest as her condition improved.
He also accepted that her genuine health issues would have made prison more difficult for her than for other defendants.
The judge said Hoey, pictured centre leaving court today, failed to show any remorse throughout the trial
Hoey was jailed for a total of 18 months, suspended for two years, after telling ‘bare-faced lies’ to the Department for Work and Pensions
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) launched an investigation after a tip off and discovered the photographs showing Hoey snorkelling stored on her computer.
Other pictures of Hoey on her knees altering her daughter’s wedding dress and bent over a snooker table with a cue in her hands revealed the true extent of her mobility.
DWP officers spotted her walking down the stairs to answer the front door, and found her home had not been adapted for her alleged disability.
Jurors were told how she regularly used the M6 Toll for free as she was on the highest mobility element of the allowance, and regularly got an updated car free of charge.
Her husband became her official carer after he gave up his job to launch a business from their home.
Despite claiming that her arthritis meant she was unable to work, she was employed full-time for PartsWorld, a car accessory supplier in Cannock, for 17 years.
Stewart Halstead, her former boss at PartsWorld said in evidence he did not know Hoey had long-term health problems and had never seen her use a stick.
He also said she walked up the office’s spiral staircase carrying a tray of hot drinks.
Mr Anthony Cartin, prosecuting, told Stafford Crown Court during her trial in July: ‘She had been working full time from 1997 in a desk job doing the exact thing – sitting for a long time in the same position – she said she could not do without pain.
‘She has lied and exaggerated, cheating you, me and the public out of money from the public purse.’
Inquiries revealed Hoey was a member of a gym, and had been attending regular swimming and badminton lessons
Despite claiming she was disabled, numerous photographs showed Hoey enjoying luxury getaways
Jurors were told how she regularly used the M6 Toll for free as she was on the highest mobility element of the allowance, and regularly got an updated car free of charge
Hoey was unanimously found guilty by the jury of fraudulently misrepresenting her benefit claim between 2001 and 2015 and misusing an exemption pass for the M6 Toll Road between 2004 and 2015.
A restraining order has been put on her property – including her home, a narrow boat – pending a Proceeds of Crime hearing scheduled for January.
Mr David Pedley, senior fraud manager for the Midlands, said: ‘We will make sure she pays back every penny.
‘We have charges on her house and narrow boat and she could face losing one or both of those on top of now having the stigma of being a benefit fraud.’