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Benefits cheat caught working out at gym must pay back £20,000

A benefits cheat caught working out in a gym while illegally pocketing disability living allowance has been ordered to repay more than £20,000.

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Paramjit Randhawa - said to have recoverable assets of over £78,500 from the equity in his house - was given three months to find the money or face nine months in jail by Recorder Stephen Campbell.

Mr Regan Peggs, representing the 72-year-old, told a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court: "He has £10,000 in savings but needs time to gather the rest."

Randhawa had told Department of Work and Pensions officials that severe mobility problems meant he could barely walk ten metres but the 72-year-old was pictured striding along a treadmill for 50 minutes.

Undercover investigators shot the tell tale film footage during a keep fit session, that also included squat thrusts and leg raises, at the Wolverhampton Council-run gym in Bentley Bridge following a tip off.

The defendant pleaded guilty to failing to inform the authorities of a change in circumstances when he appeared at the Crown Court last December and the following month received an eight month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.

It was revealed that the grandfather, who lives in Honor Avenue, Goldthorn Park, had become eligible for a disability living allowance for life after being diagnosed with asthma triggered by working in factories and foundries.

But he failed to notify officials of a marked improvement in his condition after having a pacemaker fitted in March 2010 and continued to draw benefits to which he was no longer entitled.

Paramjit Randhawa, from Wolverhampton

Shortly after the crime came to light Randhawa stood down from his position as a voluntary treasurer at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Sedgley Street, Blakenhall, looking after weekly donations of up to £10,000 and overseeing a bank account containing more than £2 million.

Judge John Wait told him in January: "You are no doubt a very fit man but also a very dishonest man. After having a pacemaker fitted you soon became a very for your age and in 2013 were seen to be walking continuously on a treadmill in a gym for nearly 60 minutes at a good pace along with leg raises and squat thrusts.

"Monies you were claiming on a regular basis was paid for by ordinary people who go out to work and you were not entitled to any of it. Having been caught out you dishonestly continued to deny the offence up until the day of your trial in December."

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