‘Housebound’ Benefits Cheat Caught Running 10k Races And Doing Zumba Classes

A former nurse from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has been jailed for seven months after being caught running 10k races and doing Zumba classes while claiming she was housebound.

Helen Green, 49, collected £25,244 in Personal Independence Payments (PIP) over three years after telling the Department for Work and Pensions that she suffered from severe, lifelong rheumatoid arthritis in every joint and a slipped disc.

Gotta love that she turned up to court on her crutches…

Green claimed she could not walk for more than 50 metres without crutches, was largely housebound, and required help bathing, dressing, and preparing food.

Which is pretty hard to believe when you see these images of her running marathons, shadowboxing and doing all kinds of stuff in the gym…

Well and truly busted, thanks to an anonymous tip-off to the DWP fraud line which prompted investigators to track Green’s activity and find that she was more active than she was letting on.

In fact she was a lot more active than the average person; having completed three different 10k competitive races across Shropshire in the time she was claiming PIP, finishing one in just 1 hour and 3 minutes.

Aside from everything else, investigators filmed her lifting and carrying heavy shopping bags to her Motability vehicle – a car she was awarded based on her claims that she could not carry bags.

Green pleaded guilty to dishonestly failing to notify the DWP of a change in circumstances (she had been fairly collecting PIP back in 2016, but her condition drastically improved since then).

The judge labeled her actions “breathtakingly dishonest” before handing down a seven-month immediate custodial sentence. I’m actually surprised she got jail time considering the stuff people get suspended sentences for these days, but I guess when it comes to money, they’re going to make an example of you.

For the Chinese students at the University of Leeds who pocketed £140,000 in a delay repay scam, click HERE. Genius… until you get caught.