Benefit cheat caught training dogs at Crufts must pay back almost £11k

A dopey disability benefits cheat who posted pictures on Facebook exhibiting dogs at Crufts has been ordered to pay back almost £11,000 of her ill-gotten gains. (h/t Dave)

Trainer Linda Avery, aged 57, claimed she could hardly walk but was filmed at a later show in Devon grooming and running her charges around rings.

The former mealtime assistant was handed a community order with unpaid work in March.

But she was summonsed back to court as the Department for Work and Pensions sought their money back under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that she had been overpaid £12,538 in Disability Living Allowance over two years.

Judge Paul Darlow ordered her to pay £10,970 over the next three months. Avery could be jailed for seven months if she fails to do so.

The court heard that she had assets assessed as about £78,000, including her share in a home.

Sally Daulton, for the department, said pictures posted on Facebook showing Avery exhibiting at Crufts showed just how long she had been cheating the system.

She said that the defendant had already paid back the balance of the money owed to the department.

Avery claimed she needed a walking aid or sticks to get around and even needed someone to cut up her food, the court heard in March.

But officers from the Department for Work and Pensions secretly filmed her parading, grooming and lifting dogs at a show in Paignton.

Avery, from Efford, admitted dishonestly failing to notify an improvement in her condition affecting her DLA claim between October 2014 and July 2016.

She was handed a 12-month community order with 100 hours unpaid work and 20 days of probation supervision.

Source with pictures