Benefit cheat caught doing job on camera

A benefits cheat fraudulently claimed for disabilities while holding down a full-time job as a lorry loader, a court has heard.Video footage was shown as evidence.

Film which was acquired from the depot of transport firm TNT showed Mark Gittings, aged 41, from Cannock "doing everything an able-bodied man can do."

Richard Dewsbery, prosecuting, told Stafford Crown Court that TNT, which is based in Wimblebury Road in Cannock, even made Gittings an instructor for manual lifting and handling techniques.

However, over a period of eight years, Gittings claimed disability living allowance and the higher rate mobility allowance as well as a carer's allowance.

The total amount he fiddled from taxpayers was £35,627.

Gittings, of Hawthorne Road, admitted one charge of failing to notify a change of circumstances and was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, curfewed for three months and ordered to pay £450 costs.

Judge Mark Eades told him: "You stand in this court shamed as a man who has dug in to the public purse for your own personal advantage."

Mr Dewsbery said Gittings made a legitimate claim for benefits in 1997 because of a spinal deformity. He had to wear callipers and platform shoes and needed help washing and dressing.

But in April 2003 he applied for a job in the loading bay at TNT, telling them he was "hardworking and reliable".

He underwent a medical examination and was taken on.

Although initially on lighter duties, that restriction was lifted in 2004.

Steven Rudge, defending, said Gittings suffered from spina bifida and a deformity of the feet, yet still managed to find work.

His employers were keeping his job open for him as long as he did not go to jail.