An army veteran has been jailed for a £36,000 benefits fraud.
Over six-and-a-half years, Russel Harrison, now 67, exaggerated and overstated the nature of physical ailments as he claimed Personal Independence Payment, known as PIP.
Prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court today how, far from being unable to do work and having very limited range of movement, he held down a physical job as an HGV driver for most of the period of his PIP claim.
Harrison falsely said he suffered from serious mobility issues, required help with simple day-to-day tasks, used a stick and on occasion could walk only 20 metres.
He described struggling to hold, chop and peel vegetables; being unable to carry pans of water; having difficulty with buttons, belts, zips and getting shoes and socks on; and of climbing stairs on his bottom.
Yet employers later detailed the physical demands of working with a 44-ton lorry.
“Not just climbing into cabs but climbing ladders to inspect loads, opening heavy curtains, fastening straps over loads, cleaning out the floor of the trailers, assisting with unloading — all entirely beyond a man as disabled as the defendant was claiming to be,” said Mr Evans.
Harrison — a man with no previous convictions — admitted a fraud totalling £35,975.
A former army man who served his country in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Ireland, he was now in poor health.
There had been a break in his HGV driver employment after he suffered a stroke at work.
A defence barrister said prison would interrupt medical treatment and have a detrimental impact on Harrison, of Edinburgh Road, Maryport.
But Judge Michael Fanning said an 18-month prison term had to be immediate.
“The public need to know this will not be tolerated,” said the judge. “You say you had more bad days than good. Well this is a bad day because you will serve that sentence.”
It had been, concluded Judge Fanning, a “calculated and deliberate deception from the word ‘go’.”
“Frankly I am astonished by the brazenness of this offending.
“The only conclusion I can draw from what I know about you…is that you are an overwhelmingly selfish, greedy and grossly dishonest individual. People like you undermine the trust in the benefits system,” added the judge.
