Skydiving Benefit Cheat Gets Suspended Sentence
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I know disabled people who have done skydives- this doesn’t make them any less disabled or entitled to benefits. Any thoughts?
A woman who was filmed skydiving while claiming sickness benefits has been handed a suspended jail term.
Clare Jones, 38, from Tonypandy, Rhondda, claimed she could only walk 25 metres without crutches, only to be filmed skydiving out of a plane at 12,000 ft (3,657m).
Jones admitted fraudulently claiming £891 in incapacity benefits and £5,125 in disability living allowance.
Jones was told she would have gone to prison without a guilty plea.
Pontypridd magistrate Virginia Osbourne said: “The courts and society take a very dim view of this type of fraud.”.
Jones’ 12-week sentence was suspended for 12 months.
Earlier, the court heard Jones was so proud of her jump she paid for the professional video which was later used in evidence against her.
She also claimed her back was so painful, she could not stand at the cooker or cut vegetables for her partner and three children.
She was caught out after volunteering to do the tandem jump – attached to an experienced instructor – to raise money for charity.
Another parachutist filmed Jones leaping from the aircraft above Swansea Airport and going into a 120mph free fall for 45 seconds.
Jones told benefits officials she was “virtually unable to walk” – and it took her up to 10 minutes to cover 100ft with crutches.
But the court heard she was fit enough to volunteer to do the tandem jump.
The film shows Jones landing comfortably on two feet, smiling and speaking into the camera.
The court heard she was caught after a tip-off to benefits hotline.
She has since repaid the incapacity benefits but still owes the disability living allowance. She was ordered to repay the rest at the rate of £35 a week.
Back problems
At an earlier hearing, Jones accepted she should have declared her symptoms had improved and notified the authorities of her change in circumstances.
Prosecutor Jonathan Holmes told the court that as well as the sky dive, Jones had visited her gym 40 times using the facilities, swimming pool and sauna.
Jones also owned up to walking to her local social club and dancing while claiming she had severe back problems.
Magistrates heard that Jones worked at a sandwich bar and a restaurant while claiming benefits.
Mr Holmes said: “She took part in the charity skydiving event in Swansea but denied it at first. She said she had never done a jump.
“But inquiries with the company involved revealed she did the jump on November 2, 2008 and it was videoed. It was within nine months as registering as disabled.
“She continued to deny it until she was shown the evidence.”
Defending Jones, Owen Thomas said she had done the parachute jump after her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
He said: “The jump is suitable for people with worse disabilities than she has including amputations.”
The court heard Jones’ father died this week and his funeral is next Tuesday.
Jones was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
Same Difference 
Taking the report at face value (I’ve just seen it on BBC News where they have given it a prominent slot) I’m afraid my thoughts are not suitable to put in print. Furious, is the tamest I can come up with. Disabled folk might well be able to go skydiving if it is within their physical or mental range, but – admittedly only on the basis of the report – it appears that this lady was engaging in this and other activities which were incompatible with the disabilities she claimed. And that’s allowing for the good day/bad day variation.
Of more interest to me is the source of the story. To give the BBC the benefit of the doubt on this one, video evidence of the sort produced would be almost irresistible to journos in search of a story; but was it the pick-up of a local story? Or was our friend the ‘Whitehall source’ giving them the nod. Either way it plays into the ongoing hate campaign against the disabled and I, for one, am none too happy with this lady.
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I too know severely disabled people who have undertaken skydives.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of this particular case it does feel that if you do anything other than sit at home and do nothing your disability benefits may be threatened.
Even those with extreme pain are encouraged to undertake physical activities as a little every day can help with physical and emotional well being. And often you have to “work” through the pain – limiting your”activity” to optimum times during the day when your pain relief medication has maximum effect .
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This lady a) was seen having to be escorted as she walked to the plane on the footage shown in court and on TV. b) was sitting down on the plane – they didnt show much of whether she was able to walk very far after landing.
I do feel that people accused of being ‘cheats’ in this way are often unable to find a legal aid solicitor to attend the interview , let alone go to court with them, and the facts are often distorted. No one is told clearly enough what a ‘change in circumstances ‘ is , let alone how often they are supposed to report them – I mean, if you recover gradually, but are signed off for 28 weeks, you dont really have any opportunity to report the improvements until the 28 week review , do you? £6,000 would include housing benefits + some form of incapacity payment – she cant ‘ have been off work for that long -maybe she needed extra money to help their dad out with extras – the terminally ill get almost nothing in benefits (and please dont blame ‘cheats’ for that – blame greedy MPs who’s annual lunch allowances + drinks tab at the House of Commons far exceed £6,000)
In her case, I think it should perhaps be easier to claim some form of ‘compassion benefit for mental shock’ when your dad is diagnosed as terminally ill – it is a huge shock, andit seems she was acting completely out of character – she must be intriniscally nice, or she would not have bothered raising that much for charity, and risking her life iwhilst raising it for other people, would she?
Intermittent disabilities are a real problem for the DWP to deal with – because they dont want the bother of it….
My late brother in law was diagnosed as terminally ill – to get benefits, he had to sign a piece of paper that said ‘I am not expected to live more than 6 months’. He lived another 2 years – he made no further declaration to the DWP and was out doing stuff for charity during that time – would he been viewed as a ‘benefit cheat’????
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