Running 5K around your local streets is usually considered a good thing, but for this woman in the Scottish village of Stanley, Perthshire, it earned her a two-year prison sentence.
Annette Bond, 50, was sentenced to the punishment after fraudulently receiving nearly £70,000 (~$88,500) through disability benefits.
Bond claimed she could barely walk following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), which qualified her for “enhanced” benefits, which she received for a decade. However, a fraud investigation team proved this was not the case after setting up secret surveillance, which captured Bond completing 5K runs by herself multiple times per week.
Sheriff William Wood said that Bond received disability living allowance “enhanced care” and “enhanced mobility” payments.
“These are normally for those who … cannot or are virtually unable to walk unaided. Former work colleagues clearly indicated you did not require either the level of care or [had the] impaired mobility required for the benefits you claimed,” he said to The Times.
“You rarely used a stick; you were able to get around the workplace unaided; you could negotiate stairs; and you were able to dance at a Christmas function.”
“But by far the most graphic evidence in the trial that your condition had improved was the surveillance footage obtained by DWP investigators from 2017, recording your ability to run five kilometers, over mixed terrain, more than once a week.”
He added that although Bond admitted to running around four times per week, she tried to maintain her innocence by saying they had caught her at a time when she was fitter.
“You must have known you did not meet the criteria for the benefits of which you were in receipt.”
“Your conduct can only be characterised as a prolonged and egregious course of dishonesty, for which there is no excuse.”
“You have obtained, through fraud, a significant sum of money to which you had no entitlement and you have deprived the taxpayer of funds that might have been usefully spent elsewhere.”
“You have defrauded the state of a large sum of money over a protracted period. I am satisfied only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Scott Hodge, one of the Department of Work and Pensions investigators on the case, even admitted that the team concluded the investigation early since they gathered so much evidence against Bond so quickly. The team had a warrant to do surveillance from May 30 to August 29, 2017, but concluded after less than two weeks.
“She is walking briskly and then she turns at the junction and begins to run. That road was taking her away from Stanley and into a wooded area,” he said to The Times.
“I have gone ahead of the subject and then captured footage of her running along the road back into Stanley. It would have been hills, ascents and descents, at various different parts of the journey.”
“We used an internet website to ascertain the distance. The estimated distance run was 4,800 meters — just short of three miles.” He said Bond completed the run in around 27 minutes.
Hodge said Bond looked confident and comfortable running alone. However, this was opposite to what she had written on her disability claims forms: “I prefer someone with me at all times when I am outdoors because I have poor balance. There is a risk of falling and dizzy spells.”
Elizabeth Bond, Annette’s mother, told the jury that although her daughter had been diagnosed with MS in 2004, she exercised regularly to fight the condition, “I occasionally saw her when I was on the way to work. She was out running. I was very pleased to see she was fit enough to run.”
“It was most mornings on my way to work. For months. She seemed to walk quite well. She was exercising to try to strengthen her legs.”
“I think she had a running machine in her house. I think it was a cross-trainer she had as well.”
Because Bond had not reported any change in her condition, she was found guilty of fraudulently claiming £67,062.50 in disability benefits from April 1, 2009, until November 27, 2018. As a result she will have to repay this money and is also facing a two year prison sentence.
