Paedophile hunter was also benefits cheat

A VIGILANTE paedo hunter who claimed she needed a wheelchair cheated £15,000 in benefits.

Karen Ferry, 47, swindled the cash after informing the DWP she needed the use of a wheelchair and a walking stick due to a “degenerative pain” condition.

Ferry - who also worked as a security supervisor at music festivals - claimed she had been in “extreme pain” for years and was forced to move her bedroom downstairs due to her mobility issues.

She told DWP officials she also needed help getting in and out of the bath and shower and also needed an aid to help her got off the toilet.

Ferry also claimed she “starts shaking” and experiences chest pains when outside and the pain affected her daily life “every day”.

But despite receiving the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) it was found Ferry had been employed by Global Security Stewarding over the near four-year period.

Ferry, from Mayfield, Midlothian, was in charge of a team of security workers who operated at festivals, concerts and football matches.

Ferry appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court where she admitted to knowingly making a false statement to the DWP and claiming £15,000 in Personal Independence Payment she was not entitled to between November 17, 2014 and March 25, 2018.

Fiscal depute Nicole Lavelle told the court the DWP set up an investigation last year into Ferry’s benefit claims.

Ms Lavelle said the PIP benefit was claimed by a self-assessment form but at the time Ferry was “responsible for a team of stewards” who worked at various events throughout the country.

The fiscal added the benefit cheat “was in charge of certain areas” at the events and her role required her to “physically active and alert” for “a minimum of five hours” per day.

Her PIP forms included the statements: “I cannot go anywhere on my own and just thinking about it makes me very anxious. If I leave to my front gate I start shaking, my chest gets tight and I believe I am going to stop breathing. My heart races and I break out in a sweat. I have these problems at all times of the day, and every day.”

Ferry also claimed “it was painful to walk just a few yards” and she needed the help of a wheelchair and a walking stick to aid her mobility.

Liam Kildare, defending solicitor, said his client had told him she was only been employed in “an office-based” position but admitted she had “overstated” her symptoms to the DWP.

Mr Kildare added Ferry did suffer from pain complaints and that she is still on benefits and she had “not exaggerated on all fronts”.

He said she eventually lost her position with the security company after she had to refuse shifts due to her ongoing physical condition.

Sheriff Nigel Ross deferred sentence to next month for the preparation of the social work report.


Ferry is a member of the online paedophile hunter group Wolf Pack Hunters UK who have been responsible for scores of child sex offenders appearing in court.

More