A benefits cheat who claimed she could barely walk after a car accident was captured on CCTV strolling around a shopping centre.

Magistrate Sandra Howell, of Marple, Cheshire, cheated the taxpayer out of nearly £27,000 by fraudulently claiming Disability Living Allowance

The single mother was captured on surveillance footage walking around the Trafford Centre in Manchester, out working as a cleaner and on her driveway.

Howell was brought into Liverpool Crown Court during her trial in wheelchair - but jurors were also shown video of her walking unaided around the court building.

Sandra Howell was brought into Liverpool Crown Court during her trial in wheelchair - but jurors were also shown video of her walking unaided around the court building

Judge David Aubrey accused her of 'flagrant dishonesty' and jailed Howell for nine months.

Howell worked as a magistrate at Stockport Magistrates' Court between January 2011 and July 2016.

Judge Aubrey told her: 'You were administering the law, presiding over cases and sitting in judgement on those before you, no doubt on occasions having to determine whether the evidence was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified for a particular defendant before you and the Bench.

'No doubt on occasions having defendants in front of you charged with offences for which you now fall to be sentenced.

Howell claimed she needed round-the-clock care with her daily tasks and personal care and said she could barely walk because of pain

'During much of that time while you were supposedly administering the law you were breaking the law, repeatedly committing criminal acts by defrauding the state, the DWP by making flagrant dishonest representations by gross exaggeration of your health issues in order to secure benefits that you were not entitled to.

Between February 2103 and October 2016 she was paid the higher rate Disability Living Allowance and received £26,539 she was not entitled to.

Surveillance footage in June 2016 showed her at the Trafford Centre and going about her cleaning business.

Judge Aubrey added: 'Throughout this period of time you were a fraudster. What you said to the Department was a sham and it was deceitful throughout.

'You sitting in judgement on others was a sham and a pretence - and a pretence with the highest form of hypocrisy.'

Howell came to court each day with a large bottle of morphine and various medications.

She denied the two fraud offences and maintained she had not been dishonest and employed others to do the cleaning work for her business.

Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, told how Howell claimed she needed round-the-clock care with her daily tasks and personal care and saying she could barely walk because of pain.

But the jury heard evidence from former cleaning customers including a head teacher who told how she went to Howell's wedding and saw her dancing.

Howell had written very lengthy answers to each of the questions on the claim forms detailing her alleged health problems.

Howell told the benefits agency that she was unable to work because of her disability following a road traffic accident in 2007.

She said 90 per cent of the time she needed somebody with her to help with her everyday tasks, day and night.

Asked in January 2013 about how far she could walk unaided she said for less than one minute and no more than five metres.

Miss Snowdon that Howell also claimed that she had falls every day and had various aids to help her get around at home including a stick, a hoist and a chair in the shower. She also claimed that it took her one to two hours to get in and out of bed and needed help dressing.

She said she could not go to the toilet on her own, had incontinence problems, struggled to get up and down stairs and needed help from her daughter.

She said she was only able to do half the 26 half-day sessions as a JP but evidence showed she had worked both half and full days as a magistrate with corresponding expense claims.

In her December 2014 claim form she said she 'was always in pain. The pain is similar to a boiling pan of water about the simmer and when it boils then I have to stop.

'It happens within seconds of walking.'

Defence barrister Ian Metcalfe said that Howell, who receives employment support allowance but no longer DLA, now known as PIP, after her subsequent claims were rejected, has made some repayments to the DWP.

A DWP spokesman said: 'Only a small minority of benefit claimants are dishonest, but cases like these show how we are catching the minority who cheat the system and divert taxpayers' money from those who need it.

'We are determined to catch those we suspect of fraudulently claiming benefits by following up on tip-offs, undertaking surveillance and working with local councils.'