A woman who claimed £72,000 in disability benefits was convicted of fraud in 30 minutes today after a jury was shown this secret film of her winning a Gold medal in a karate contest.
Black belt Claire Thomas, 46, told the Department for Work and Pensions she had breathing difficulties while doing martial arts training three to four times a week.
Extraordinary footage of the benefits cheat sparring in a sports centre before collecting her first prize while claiming she could ‘only walk a short distance’.
She was also filmed walking at a ‘quick pace’ from her taxpayer-funded mobility car to her martial arts classes while puffing on cigarettes.
Today jurors at Gloucester Crown Court took just half an hour to find Claire Thomas guilty of all the charges against her after a three day trial.
This is benefits cheat Claire Thomas, 46, doing karate (left) and winning a medal (right) while claiming cash from the government because she said she could barely walk because of her asthma
Extraordinary footage of the benefits cheat sparring with other martial artists in a sports centre
Thomas would collect a gold medal for her efforts but has been prosecuted because she was unaware benefit fraud investigators were filming her
After she was convicted the court were told that she had a previous fraud conviction in 1998.
The judge, Recorder Gordon Bebb QC, said: ‘She’s looking at a prison sentence’ as he adjourned the case for sentencing tomorrow.
Thomas, of Gloucester, had been classed as disabled for more than six years from March 2007 after saying her asthma was ‘always waiting to strike, taking the air that I breathe’.
She had also claimed that she suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, prosecutor Tim Hills said.
He told the jury: ‘In 2013 she won a bronze and a gold regional medal in karate’ and was filmed competing throughout May that year.
Mr Hills said: ‘Surveillance was carried out. She was seen wearing her Karate clothes, smoking a cigarette out of a car window, and then attending a Karate class.
‘There was then a regional qualifier taking place in Birmingham and she was filmed taking part, winning a medal, and then kissing her husband.’
Investigators saw her walking to and from her car at normal speed and without any sign of difficulty or shortness of breath, he alleged.
Mrs Thomas has denied seven charges of benefit fraud between June 2007 and December 2013.
It is alleged that during that time she was paid about £72,000 in benefits she was not entitled to, including £4,256 towards a car because of her immobility.
Most of the charges relate to her claim that she was living as a single parent whereas the DWP allege she was in fact keeping a ‘common household’ with her husband, Kevin Thomas.
The court heard Thomas won a bronze and a gold regional medal in karate’ and was filmed competing throughout May 2013 when claiming benefits
Claire Thomas was secretly filmed during the class and spotted smoking a cigarette after winning a gold medal
One of the charges, dated between June 6 2012 and December 3 2013, alleges Mrs Thomas dishonestly failed to notify a change in circumstances: an improvement in her physical abilities.
DWP fraud investigator Judith Merryman said Mrs Thomas first contacted them in 2005 when she asked for Income Support on the grounds she was single with a dependant child.
At the time she was living in Riverleys, Bristol, but in September 2005 she moved to Gloucester.
‘We carried on paying on the basis she was a single parent with a dependant child. If she was living with a partner she would not be entitled to income support’ said Mrs Merryman.
‘She said that she had suffered with diabetes and high blood pressure for about six years, but for the brittle asthma she simply said ‘years’.
‘She said she had to have someone with her when she is out in public and stated ‘It’s always lurking, waiting to strike when it wants, taking the air that I breathe.’
‘She received DLA Mobility, an award of money that was put towards a mobility car. In 2008 the income support was switched to employment support allowance, because she had provided medical certificates and was classed as disabled.’
Mrs Merryman then told the court that during surveillance Mrs Thomas was seen ‘walking to and from her car without stopping or catching her breath.
‘She went to a Karate club at Brockworth, nearr Gloucester. She was observed wearing Karate whites, smoking cigarettes in her mobility car, and observed walking across the car park to the club.
‘She walked across the car park at a quick pace with no obvious discomfort for about 100 yards’.
The jury were shown an edited compilation of clips from the surveillance period and Mrs Merryman said she had been told by GKR that Mrs Thomas trained ‘three to four times a week.
The film clips were shown to to the jury. Mr Hills asked Mrs Merryman: ‘The medals put around her neck, what were they?’
‘They were a gold and a bronze medal’ she replied.
Mr Hills told the jury there was evidence from the electoral roll and a car finance application for a Lexus vehicle that Mr and Mrs Thomas lived together and that she was not a single parent as she claimed.
‘The electoral roll for the address also says that Kevin Thomas and Claire Thomas live together,’ he said. ‘On the the car finance application it states that Kevin Thomas is a full time HGV driver.
Claire Thomas, right, is pictured during the class with husband Kevin Thomas, who is standing next to her
‘They both told the electoral roll they were married. They told the HP company they were married and lived together.
‘Surveillance footage shows Mr Thomas arriving in the evening and leaving in the mornings, just as every other married man might. She was seen walking to and from her car on a regular basis.’
Mr Hills said that when she was interviewed ‘she continued to maintain she was single, and unable to work. She said that Mr Thomas was of no fixed abode, a sofa surfer. She said she allowed him to stay for a month because of his tummy trouble.’
He went on to say that there were ‘various messages on Facebook’ that showed the couple ‘taking part in Karate and renewing their wedding vows in December 2012, in their own home, dressed in some sort of religious get up, but she said that some two to three days later he had been domestically abusive towards her.’
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