Ethel McGill, from Cheshire, was seen moving around despite claiming she needed a wheelchair

A woman who stole £740,000 in benefits by claiming that her dead father was still alive has been jailed.

In one of the UK’s biggest benefit frauds by an individual Ethel McGill, 68, from Runcorn, Cheshire, continued claiming Robert Dennison’s war pension and benefits after his death in 2004, at one stage asking a friend to lie under a blanket and stand in for him.

The amateur actress also faked dementia and mobility issues for more than two decades to claim benefits. She was finally caught out when investigators from the Department for Work and Pensions filmed her moving around and driving despite having claimed that she needed a wheelchair.

She was jailed for five years and ten months at Liverpool crown court after pleading