A WOMAN who decided whether people should be entitled to benefits was caught falsely claiming more than £8,000.

Susan Elliott-Jones, 63, was secretly filmed by fraud investigators shopping and strolling around, despite claiming she was virtually unable to walk.

She claimed £8,399.85 in Disability Living Allowance, from November 2007 to May 2010.

However, investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions filmed her walking “reasonably quickly” around Waitrose, in Billericay, walking more than 250 metres while shopping, bending, lifting and carrying bags.

Elliott-Jones, of Market Place, Ingatestone, worked on a panel with the Appeals Tribunal Service, dealing with Disability Living Allowance cases.