A NORTH-EAST man claiming benefits as a wheelchair-bound invalid boasted that he went jogging three times a week, a court heard.

John Moses, 50, and his wife Victoria, 44, are charged with swindling disability income and other DSS allowances amounting to more than £70,000.

He was pushed into Teesside Crown Court yesterday in an invalid chair and he sat motionless in the dock in a neck brace as prosecutor Richard Gray accused him and his wife of being complete frauds.

The five-year scam came to an end after he reported his Daimler limousine had been stolen at the seaside resort of Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, said Mr Gray.

He told a jury: "Mr Moses' downfall was that he informed his insurance company that he parked it to go for a run on the beach.

"He said he went jogging three times a week and bragged to an investigator that he was quite an athlete."

Mr Gray said that Moses complained to the DSS that he suffered from osteo-arthritis in his back, cervical spondylosis, sciatica, vertigo, blackouts, and that he was going blind.

At the same time, he was running a plastics recycling business, where he was seen carrying out able-bodied work, and had four classic cars for hire, it was alleged.

His wife, a mother of five, also claimed severe disability allowance for angina, breathlessness, arthritis and inability to walk more than 30 yards.

Mr Gray told the court: "A consultant physician diagnosed that her medical problem was that she was four stones overweight, and he observed that she had a nice suntan from the Algarve."

"Together and individually, they milked the DSS by claiming increasing medical ailments, which were a complete and utter sham."

The couple, from Mazine Terrace, Haswell, County Durham, also drew false income support and housing benefits after stating they were separated, while living together, it was claimed.

Moses, who had been on sick leave since 1980, denies seven charges of false accounting, two of abetting his wife, and a count of intimidating a DSS investigator with a threatening letter.

Mrs Moses pleaded not guilty to eight charges of false accounting.

The trial continues today.