A businessman who went jogging three times a week and built a brick wall while claiming to be wheelchair-bound was today jailed for falsely receiving more than £40,000 in benefits.

John Moses, 50, was given 18 months following a two-year investigation by Department of Social Security officers.

His 44-year-old wife Victoria was also jailed for 10 months today at Newcastle Crown Court.

Judge Peter Armstrong told the couple: "The two of you have been convicted by a jury of a large number of offences of false accounting."

Moses, of Mazine Terrace, Haswell, County Durham, received almost £42,000 in benefits between 1993 and 1997.

His wife falsely claimed £28,000 benefits between 1994 and 1997.

He claimed to be seriously disabled and unable to work when he was in reality running a business, the judge told him today.

His deception was discovered when he claimed his Daimler limousine, which he used for his classic car hire business, had been stolen while he was jogging on the coast at Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, the court was told.

Richard Gray, prosecuting, said during an interview with his insurers Moses had claimed he went running three times a week.

The judge told the father-of-five his benefit claims were false from the outset.

"You were running a business of your own and also claiming at one stage to be capable of jogging. You were also caught on video building a wall - all at a time when you were claiming not to be working and indeed made medical claims to the effect that you were wheelchair-bound."

A jury at Teesside Crown Court had earlier found Moses guilty of aiding and abetting his wife, of the same address, to make false claims.

He was also found guilty of intimidating a witness when he sent a letter to a DSS investigator saying he knew where the officer lived.

Judge Armstrong told the defendant, who had to be helped into the dock, wore a neck brace and used crutches: "You wrote a letter of a most sinister and threatening nature and that was clearly intended to cause him the utmost concern, which it did."

Moses was jailed for 15 months on the seven counts of false accounting, one of aiding and abetting his wife and for a further three months for the charge of witness intimidation.

His wife was jailed for 10 months for the eight counts of false accounting. The judge said he would have passed longer sentences had it not been for the delay in bringing both cases to trial. He told them: "These sentences are the least I can pass, bearing in mind the serious nature of this fraud."

Moses was ordered to pay a £20,000 confiscation order after the court was told he had realisable assets worth £22,000.

He must pay the sum within nine months or be jailed for a further 12 months. The judge did not impose a compensation order on his wife after he heard she did not have any assets of her own.

After the case a Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said the couple were not seriously disabled, as they had pretended to be in their claims for disability living allowance.

They also failed to declare large insurance payouts, employment earnings and ownership of land which made them ineligible for the income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit they claimed.

The deputy minister for work Malcolm Wicks said in a statement: "This is an excellent example of how our fraud detection team roots out benefit cheats, and should serve as a strong reminder that we always pursue cases against fraudsters vigorously."