A benefits cheat who fraudulently claimed nearly £70,000 of disability aid, claiming she was too sick to walk, was secretly filmed on daily 5k runs around her Perthshire home.
Ex-care worker Annette Bond claimed to the Department for Work and Pensions that she had lost the power in her left leg and needed a walking stick to get around.
She said she had balance problems and was at constant risk of falling due to dizzy spells.
For nearly a decade, the 49-year-old claimed “enhanced” payments of just over £67,000 by exaggerating ailments she suffered from multiple sclerosis.
She denied committing fraud by failing to tell the DWP her condition had improved, claiming her symptoms “fluctuated”.
But she was found guilty after a week-long trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
Bond, of Shielhill Park, Stanley, was warned she could be jailed when she is sentenced next month.
She also faces Proceeds of Crime action.
Undercover filming
Fraud investigator Scott Hodge told the trial he was tasked with putting Bond under surveillance for the DWP in May 2017.
He carried out secret filming in a van parked near her home in Stanley.
Video was shown in court of Bond going on regular runs of just under three miles.
Mr Hodge, 54, noted that in one video – caught at 6.15am on May 31 – his subject appeared from her home in running gear and “with rosy cheeks”.
Bond was seen walking briskly from her home, before turning right and running down the street.
“I was following her in a motor vehicle while we captured her on film using a camcorder,” Mr Hodge said.
He said she jogged for about 30 minutes, over “hills, ascents and descents”.
She ran the same route on June 7 and again on June 9.
“It was felt that we would probably just see more of the same over the following days, so the decision was made to end surveillance,” he said.
Asked by fiscal depute Emma Farmer if Bond had ever shown “severe discomfort” during her morning runs, Mr Hodge said: “Not to my knowledge.”
Christmas dancing
Erman Maglalang told jurors he worked alongside Bond when she was a support worker at Perth charity PKAVS.
He said he could not remember her ever using a walking stick or having trouble with mobility.
Asked if Bond was supported with specialised equipment, Mr Maglalang said: “She required a specialist mouse for her computer, due to arthritis in her wrists.”
He said he often saw her going to the office kitchen to make herself tea or coffee, before bringing it back to her desk, without any assistance.
He remembered seeing her dancing at a Christmas party.
Bond, who also ran an online jewellery business, told the trial she was “mingling” but not dancing at the works event.
She said she suffered from vertigo, ME, fibromyalgia, PTSD and Raynaud’s Phenomenon, where blood does not flow to the tips of her fingers and toes.
Bond told the court she would try to hide her mobility issues at work.
“I had to show I was a capable person – I didn’t want them (colleagues) to feel sorry for me.
“I was embarrassed. I didn’t want anyone to see me as different.”
Fiscal depute Emma Farmer suggested her application to the DWP – stating she physically struggled to get out of bed – was at odds with video of her running for half-an-hour each morning.
“I still struggle to get out of bed,” she repsonded.
“But once I was up, I was fine. Well, maybe not fine but I was moving.”
She accepted she ran on busy main roads near her home, despite claiming she could fall over at any time.
Asked why she never notified the department about a change in her condition, she said: “I didn’t realise I was doing the wrong thing.”
Running machine
Bond’s mother, Elizabeth Bond, 68, told the jury she regularly saw her daughter running in the mornings.
“I was very pleased to see she was fit enough to run.
“It was most mornings on my way to work, for months.”
The court heard her daughter kept a running machine and a cross-trainer at her house.
Local Church of Scotland minister Keith Scott appeared as a witness for the defence.
The 72-year-old, from Arbroath, said he worked alongside Bond at PKAVS.
He said he saw her using a walking stick and wearing supports on her hands and knees.
In her 2004 application form to the DWP, Bond wrote: “I have to walk with a stick as I have loss of power in my left leg, along with numbness.
“I do not have much control of the leg which causes balance problems.”
She added: “When I waken first thing I am very stiff and sore.
“I have to roll over to the edge of the bed and then lift my legs over the edge.
“I must sit there for a few minutes due to being dizzy. I have to hold onto a cabinet and use my stick to get onto my feet.
“I don’t always make it onto my feet first time.”
He appeared surprised to be told Bond had been seen running around her home in the mornings.
Verdict: Guilty
After six days of evidence, jurors took just 40 minutes to convict first-time offender Bond.
The charge states she claimed Disability Living Allowance “enhanced care” and “enhanced mobility” payments between April 2009 and November 2018.
Sheriff William Wood told her: “The jury has found you guilty in respect of this charge and I now have to consider what the most appropriate sentence might be.
“Because of the nature of this charge and the amounts involved, I need to determine whether a custodial sentence might be appropriate.”
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