Sara Morris told the Department of Work and Pensions she could hardly stand due to her multiple sclerosis but was regularly running races
Sara Morris was jailed after pleading guilty to dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit.
A benefits cheat who spent nine weeks behind bars after being caught out by her own Facebook posts described prison as ‘terrifying’.
Sara Morris told the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) she could hardly stand due to her multiple sclerosis.
But the mum-of-three, from Stoke-on-Trent, was seriously exaggerating the extend of her condition, and regularly running races.
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The 50-year-old claimed more than £20,000 in Personal Independence Payments (PIP) between 2020 and 2023, the Mirror reports.
She claimed she was unable to stand at the cooker, lacked balance and had difficulties getting out of the bath unassisted.
However her social media pictures told a very different story, as Morris, a member of the Stone Master Marathoners, regularly ran 5km and 10km races.
DWP investigators carried out surveillance in February 2023, and noted Morris took part in a five-mile race, where she was seen running without assistance.
She had previously claimed a short walk to the pharmacy had left her in tears, but between May 2019 and December 2022, she completed 73 races.
During an interview in May 2023, Morris claimed her MS had worsened and she suffered from fatigue, saying: “[The] severity of its impact ebbs and flows to a degree.”
Morris was jailed for eight months last July after pleading guilty to dishonestly making a false statement to obtain a benefit.
At a later proceeds of crime hearing, she was ordered to repay £22,386.02.
Morris served nine weeks in jail and later took to TikTok to share her experiences, with her videos attracting tens of thousands of views.
Discussing the food she said: “You get a choice. Some of the options are a bit ropey.
“You get lots and lots of double carbs. You would eat things like rice with a side portion of potatoes.
“Sunday lunches were normally pretty good. The portion sizes are pretty big when you go to the servery.
“Things like crisps you would only maybe get once or twice a week.”
She also spoke about a ‘terrifying’ moment she became the target of a fellow prisoner.
“The officer said don’t worry about it, we’re keeping an eye on her and it’s just your turn,” she told her followers.
“The first big incident that came was in a long, thin corridor.
“I came out of the servery with my little blue plate… walked towards the staircase where I would go to the first floor where my room was and this woman came straight towards me.
“As soon as I saw her face I thought ‘oh no, I’m in trouble here’ and she looked directly at me, then she looked at the plate and she put her hand underneath the plate and slapped my dinner all over me. It was terrifying.”