A fraudster who claimed £20,000 in disability benefits but was caught enjoying a ride on a zip wire must now sell his prized koi carp to pay back what he owes.
Paul Stevens claimed he needed care seven days a week to help with bathing, dressing, cooking and even getting in and out of bed.
The 70-year-old said he was in constant pain, needed crutches to get around, and could walk only 40 to 60 yards at a time after suffering severe back pain for 20 years.
Paul Stevens, 70, claimed he was in constant pain and needed help cooking, washing and dressing himself and pocketed £20,000 in disability benefits. But he was rumbled when he was caught on film on a zip wire in a play park (pictured)
But a Department for Work and Pensions investigation gained incredible footage of him messing around on a zip wire in a play park
He was also captured on camera pruning a tree with a saw and there was also a video of him kneeling as he gardened.
When confronted over his benefits claims, the Clacton, Essex, pensioner admitted he had walked up to 1,000 yards on some occasions.
Incredibly he was assisted in his fraud by his wife, Alexandra, 49, who herself was an investigator with the DWP.
The couple avoided jail last year but now have been ordered to repay the money they fraudulently gained.
The pair were at Chelmsford Crown Court for a proceeds of crime hearing.
John Livingston, prosecuting, Stevens had assets of £13,000 which does not include any equity in property, a coin collection estimated to be worth £10,000 and a shoal of Koi carp which were likely valued at £3,000.
There are also issues over the ownership of the marital home which is believed to be solely in Mrs Stevens' name.
Stevens (left) and his wife Alexandra (right), of Clacton, Essex, were convicted by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court last year
Mr Livingston alleged their home has increased in value by £13,900 since they bought it using fraudulently gained cash giving them a pecuniary advantage.
Judge David Turner QC urged Stevens to get his collections valued 'pretty darn quickly' ahead of another hearing in April which will determine the final amount the low-life pair have to pay back.
He urged parties to come to an arrangement quickly about the amount owed so it could be resolved.
He said: 'The last thing I want is more public money to be spent than the amount which is actually recovered. This has got to be resolved.
'The jurisdiction must be based in reality.'
In total Stevens claimed nearly £20,000 of taxpayers' money for Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence payments to which he was not entitled.
The couple denied benefits fraud charges but were convicted by a jury last year <2018> and could have been jailed.
But they were instead handed suspended sentences in September. <26.09.2018>
Stevens had been injured at work and first began claiming disability benefits in 1995 for conditions including a degenerative bone disease - money he was originally entitled to.
However, in 2015, with the help of his wife, the pensioner began 'cutting corners' with his benefits forms.
Stevens eventually claimed £19,996 he was not entitled to.
Mr Livingston, prosecuting the original case, said: 'He (Mr Stevens) never reported to the DWP any changes in circumstances.
'His wife, has quite frankly, assisted him in his criminality.'
Mr Livingstone said Mrs Stevens must have known it was necessary to report that the need for care for her husband was less.
'It is amazing - considering what her job was - not to report that or advise her husband to report that change to the DWP.
'The claim was not fraudulent from the outset because it is accepted when he originally claimed he was entitled to some benefits.'
Stevens was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 20 days rehabilitation, after being convicted of failing to notify a change of circumstances and of making dishonest representation to obtain benefit.
Stevens (pictured right) was rumbled when the DWP obtained footage of him on a zip wire at a play park and pruning a tree in his garden with no mobility issues
His wife was handed a four-month term, suspended for two years, ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation after being convicted of dishonest representation to obtain benefit.
Before she joined the Essex North DWP investigation team in November 2015, Mrs Stevens worked in a similar capacity for Tendring District Council in Essex, focusing on housing and council tax fraud.
She was sacked by the DWP in July 2017.
Mrs Stevens, who married her husband in 2006, previously told the court she had put in his forms what her husband had told her - and filled them in because she had neater handwriting than him.
She said she did not think that she had put anything dishonest or inaccurate in the forms.
She was convicted of one charge of dishonest representation to obtain benefit but cleared of another similar offence.
Judge Turner, when he sentenced last year, said the criminality was made 'more shameful' as it followed a family inheritance of £240,000.
'These crimes are not victimless. The victim is the taxpayer and the people who have a genuine need of support and benefits which a humane society offers.
'Both of you are people of previous good character and you have brought shame and a degree of public despair down on yourselves.
'I do not doubt this has been a nightmare episode, but it has been a self-inflicted one,' he said.
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https://hienalouca.com/2019/01/31/benefits-fraudster-70-forced-to-sell-prized-koi-carp-to-repay-20000/
Main photo article A fraudster who claimed £20,000 in disability benefits but was caught enjoying a ride on a zip wire must now sell his prized koi carp to pay back what he owes.
Paul Stevens claimed he needed care seven days a week to help with bathing, dressing, cooking and even getting in and out of bed.
The 7...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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