Golf club stalwart Valerie Lewis of Runcorn escapes jail despite £40,000 benefit scam

Jan 13 2011 by Daniel Mckenzie, Chester Chronicle

A DISGRACED former golf club captain offered to pay back her fraudulently claimed disability allowance over 80 years.

Valerie Lewis, 55, of Picton Avenue, Runcorn, claimed £40,842 in disability allowance between 2001 and 2009, while playing up to four rounds of golf a week.

Judge Stephen Clarke said the case brought shame and disgrace on Lewis and she escaped jail only because she was the primary carer for her seriously ill daughter and husband.

He told her: “Your golf club membership is in excess of £600 a year, which is more than the £520 yearly repayments you are making.”

She had claimed that walking outdoors was virtually impossible and she needed support getting in and out of bed and the bath.

The Department of Work and Pensions launched an investigation which found Lewis, who was the lady captain of Sutton Hall Golf Club, was ‘fitter than stated’ and played golf up to 18 times a month.

In a hearing at Warrington Crown Court on Tuesday, Lewis received a 24-week suspended sentence and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. She has agreed to pay back the owed amount at £10 a week.

Covert video surveillance showed Lewis playing golf and removing clubs from her car.

During a medical assessment in 2001 Lewis claimed she could not walk more than 140 yards without needing to go to bed but the court heard she played golf and went horse riding a day later.

The court accepted that Lewis had initially suffered a medical problem, but failed to inform the DWP that her condition had eased.

Judge Clarke said: “The repayment is such a tiny amount, the taxpayers are never going to recover this money.

“This is a time when benefits are under severe stress, those who cheat the systems not only cheat the taxpayer, but also proper claimants.

“This case brings shame and disgrace on you and when people read about it in the local newspaper they will think ‘what a hypocrite’. That is sometimes a more severe punishment.”

After the sentencing, Lord Freud, minister for welfare reform, said: “When people receive benefits they enter into a contract to tell us of any change in circumstances. Failing to do so is a crime and we are committed to stopping it by catching those who do it, while ensuring our reforms make the benefit system less open to abuse.

“As this case shows, if you commit this crime you face prosecution and a criminal record – a stigma that can impact on your life for years.”

Roy Paul, area fraud investigator, added: “This investigation arose as a result of information given to our National Benefit Fraud Hotline. If you suspect someone is claiming benefits they are not entitled to, please call free and in confidence on 0800 854 440.”