Racing Ace's Disability Fraud Caught On Film

A motocross champion has been caught on camera winning one race and coming third in another while claiming nearly £16,000 in disability benefit.

Bolton Magistrates' Court heard Jake Preston was claiming Disability Living Allowance, a benefit earmarked for the most severely disabled people in the country.

Preston claimed he was crippled with a rare condition called Syringomyelia, causing him pain in the neck and spine from the age of four.

The court heard he had claimed he was virtually unable to walk, suffered excruciating pain and struggled going up and down stairs. The reality was very different.

Preston, who had been racing bikes since the age of 10 and competed in Holland at one point, was filmed winning one race and coming third in another during the British Masters Motocross Championships in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

He also had taken part in a construction course at Bolton College, getting to his studies in his Vauxhall Corsa, a mobility car, again paid for by taxpayers.

The Department for Work and Pensions carried out an investigation into his activities after a tip-off from the member of the public.

The 20-year-old received around £100 per week to pay for his care, fraudulently claiming £15,128 in total between September 2007 and March 2010.

He pleaded guilty to a single charge of failing to notify the department for Work and Pensions of a change in circumstance - the improvement in his condition - which would affect his claim.

Joe O'Connor, defending, told the court there was "no dishonesty" from Preston, as he relied on "the advice of other people" to fill in the benefits form and simply signed it off himself.

Preston was given a 250-hour community order and told to pay the benefits he had claimed.