A woman who plundered more than £15,000 in benefits she was not entitled to by pretending to be more disabled than she was has been jailed for eight months.

Susan Hill, who appeared in the dock on crutches, was ‘grossly dishonest’ when she said her mobility was so severely hampered she could hardly walk.

The 47-year-old claimed her problems were so bad that she couldn’t go out in her Motability car alone.

But when fraud investigators carried out surveillance they saw her walking without crutches, carrying shopping and never using a wheelchair. When she was out in the car she was often alone, but when her daughter was with her she got out and filled the tank and paid for petrol while her passenger sat in the car.

Robin Shellard, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court she started claiming in 2010 after suffering a fracture.

She said she could not walk far unaided, needed crutches, and if she needed to go any distance had to resort to a wheelchair.

In the forms she said had to have grab rails in the house to get up the stairs, had to sit to get dressed and couldn’t stand without help.

He said inquiries at apetito in Trowbridge, where she worked on a production line, showed she continued to work after suffering her injury. Despite the job being physically demanding and requiring her to lift boxes up to 6kg in weight on shifts up to 10 hours long she showed no disability, according to bosses.

Hill, of Broadbury Avenue, Melksham, pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonest representation to obtain a total of £15,655.25 benefit.

Jonathan Lewis, defending, said the offending went on for three years when she ought to have reported the improvement in her condition.

He said the mother of two grown-up children suffered depression after a bereavement a number of years ago.

She is now correctly on Employment and Support Allowance and is slowly paying back what she took with deductions from it.

Passing sentence Judge Peter Blair QC said “You have admitted... pretty elaborate lies about the level of your disability which gave rise to your being granted Disability Living Allowance.

“You weren’t nearly as disabled as you were pretending and you persisted over a substantial period of time in maintaining that you were suffering a level of disability that you weren’t.

“That was to defraud the public purse of amounts of money coming on to £15,000 and at a time when anyone who watches TV would have seen a number of advertisements about shopping your neighbour if they make dishonest benefit claims.

“This is not some accidental crime of omission on your part... you set out to get as much as you can out of a system that is there for people who are really disabled.

“I have come to the conclusion that there is no reason why you should not face an immediate custodial sentence for this.”