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| 'Agoraphobic' woman travelled world while falsely claiming £50,000 benefits | 'Agoraphobic' woman travelled world while falsely claiming £50,000 benefits |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A woman who travelled the world while claiming benefits for acute agoraphobia has been told to expect a jail sentence. | |
| Tracy Johnson, 52, claimed to be too unwell to leave her house, yet enjoyed a "champagne lifestyle", writing travel guides, cookbooks and steamy novels while falsely claiming benefits of about £50,000. | |
| As well as a four-month stint in India, Johnson, who has a son, went on shopping sprees in New York and Madrid. A court also heard she spent six months working in Argentina as a tour guide while receiving cold winter payments. | As well as a four-month stint in India, Johnson, who has a son, went on shopping sprees in New York and Madrid. A court also heard she spent six months working in Argentina as a tour guide while receiving cold winter payments. |
| The day after telling benefits officials she could not walk more than five metres (16ft) without help, Johnson went on a two-day trip to central London. | The day after telling benefits officials she could not walk more than five metres (16ft) without help, Johnson went on a two-day trip to central London. |
| A jury at Merthyr crown court convicted Johnson of 13 charges, including fraud, dishonestly making a false representation, and dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances between January 2008 and July 2012. | A jury at Merthyr crown court convicted Johnson of 13 charges, including fraud, dishonestly making a false representation, and dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances between January 2008 and July 2012. |
| Recorder Andrew Crabb warned Johnson to expect a custodial sentence. He said: "A period of custody is likely to follow. How long that will be I could not say at this point." | Recorder Andrew Crabb warned Johnson to expect a custodial sentence. He said: "A period of custody is likely to follow. How long that will be I could not say at this point." |
| The court heard that Johnson, of Frome, Somerset, claimed she had not left the UK for years and her fears and illnesses left her a "prisoner at home". She later changed her address to her mother's home in Builth Wells, Powys, for the purpose of claiming benefits. | The court heard that Johnson, of Frome, Somerset, claimed she had not left the UK for years and her fears and illnesses left her a "prisoner at home". She later changed her address to her mother's home in Builth Wells, Powys, for the purpose of claiming benefits. |
| However, the Benefits Agency believed she was living in Brighton, Sussex, and was housebound because of her medical conditions. But when police went to arrest her, they found luggage tags still on her suitcases. | However, the Benefits Agency believed she was living in Brighton, Sussex, and was housebound because of her medical conditions. But when police went to arrest her, they found luggage tags still on her suitcases. |
| Investigators later found her profile on the LinkedIn business networking site, where she billed herself as "author, photographer and tour director of Northwest Nomads from 2002 to the present time". | Investigators later found her profile on the LinkedIn business networking site, where she billed herself as "author, photographer and tour director of Northwest Nomads from 2002 to the present time". |
| She also kept Facebook friends up to speed with her travels. A court heard that one of her posts read: "I am one spoilt girl. Early lunch in the Himalaya Spa. Lunch here would be two weeks' wages in India." She also went on to describe Buenos Aires as "magical – like a new lover". | |
| But despite reams of bank statements proving her guilt, Johnson continued to protest her innocence. After telling the court she had only one bank account, Johnson claimed that several withdrawals from cash machines in Argentina over a six-month period had been made by someone who had copied her card. However, during that time there were no transactions for shopping within the UK. | |
| Johnson tried to explain this by saying she had been bedridden and had not user her card. And when transactions back home once again appeared on her bank statements, those for Argentina suddenly stopped. | |
| Other excuses Johnson used in evidence included blaming the 11 September terrorist attacks for giving her post-traumatic stress disorder and saying that thousands of pounds going into her account was a gift from her elderly mother. | |
| She also claimed that purchases made with her card in Ann Summers, women's lingerie outlet Victoria's Secret and to cosmetics firm L'Oreal had been made by her then-teenage son. | |
| Prosecutor Joanna James said: "Tracy Johnson was living the life that honest, decent, hard-working taxpayers could only dream of. While workers were going out to do their daily grind, she was shopping in New York or having a few days in Madrid." | |
| James said Johnson told the Department for Work and Pensions she could not live on a day-to-day basis and "stumbled and fell repeatedly and could not walk more than five metres without help". | James said Johnson told the Department for Work and Pensions she could not live on a day-to-day basis and "stumbled and fell repeatedly and could not walk more than five metres without help". |
| Crabb said sentencing would be carried out within the next two or three weeks, once the Probation Service had completed a report on Johnson. |