'Crippled' drummer caught out in Great Harwood Remembrance Day march (From Lancashire Telegraph)

'Crippled' drummer caught out in Great Harwood Remembrance Day march

1:30pm Friday 2nd December 2011 in Blackpool By Sam Chadderton, Reporter

A ‘CRIPPLED’ drummer was secretly filmed drumming in a band on a Remembrance Day march in East Lancashire.

Alexander Clarkson, 63, of Ashfield Road, Blackpool, admitted illegally claiming more than £17,000 in Disability Living Allowance.

He was given a 56-day suspended jail sentence for benefit fraud after being caught out by a Department for Work and Pensions investigation.

He claimed he could hardly walk due to arthritis and needed crutches, but he was filmed in Great Harwood last November as the lead drummer for nearly half an hour.

He was also seen walking, shopping, driving an carrying bags.

Clarkson was ordered to repay the DWP.

DWP Minister for Welfare Reform, Lord Freud, said: "We have a duty to the taxpayer and our customers to make sure that these vital benefits only go to those who need them.

"Benefit fraud takes money away from the most vulnerable.

"It is a crime and we are committed to stopping it by catching criminals at the front line and making sure our reforms make the benefit system less open to abuse."

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