A NESTON man who claimed more than £40,000 compensation for a back injury but was filmed carrying out ‘arduous activities’ has been jailed for contempt of court.

Adam Roberts, 33, of Hawkins Road, claimed for damages after he ‘slipped on debris’ and twisted his back while fitting cable at Airbus in Broughton in October 2007.

In a written statement, Roberts had said the injury had left him ‘only able to walk short distances’ and relying on two crutches.

He claimed damages from Airbus of about £28,000 for loss of earnings and £20,000 to cover ‘care and assistance’.

But, following investigations by insurance firm QBE, Roberts was seen engaging in extensive and vigorous activity, including carrying a bath and toilet and throwing a roll of carpet into a skip. He was also spotted picking up a cabinet and ramming it forcefully into the skip.

Craig Sephton QC, defending Roberts, denied he did anything wrong and disputed the investigators’ footage were ‘indicative of his capabilities’, saying Roberts was helping out with an ‘urgent family favour’.

In a statement, Roberts said he had ‘no recollection of the day’ because of the drugs he had taken.

But sentencing him to six months at the High Court, Lord Justice Moore-Bick said were it not for the video evidence a payout would have been ‘very likely’.

He said Roberts was in contempt because he had made a statement which he ‘knew to be false with a view to influencing the outcome of proceedings’.

He said that on the evidence of the video, it was clear that Roberts ‘was not significantly disabled and his condition was not as he described it’.

Solicitor David Evans, representing Airbus and QBE, said after the hearing that the work Roberts was filmed doing was ‘wholly incompatible with the assertions of pain and disability he made in his claim’.

He added that cases like this should send out a warning to would-be perpetrators.