A bodybuilder has been unmasked as a benefits cheat who claimed that he struggled to walk while winning the Mr Wales over-40 competition.
Peter Beddoe, 49, who said that he could not walk without a special frame, was jailed for six months yesterday for falsely claiming nearly £30,000 in disability benefits.
Merthyr Tydfil crown court was told that Beddoe went to his local gym nearly every day. He won the Mr Wales over-40 title and the South Coast bodybuilding championships in 2009. He originally began bodybuilding to build up the muscles around his spine after an accident in the early 1990s. He legitimately claimed disability benefits at the time but failed to notify the Department for Work and Pensions when his condition improved.
Beddoe, of Llwydcoed, south Wales, admitted two charges of making dishonest representations to claim benefits and one of fraud between 2006 and 2013. The sum involved was £28,332.
