A one-legged man was falsely accused of fiddling disability benefit after
officials examined his wrong leg.
Robert Punter has undergone a nightmare year of anxiety after being taken to
court by benefits officials who told him he was not disabled enough to claim the
allowance even though he was having his leg amputated.
The mix up occurred because the 63-year-old ex trucker, whose left leg was
shattered in a boyhood shotgun accident, also suffered a serious toe injury in
his right foot.
He was prosecuted when officials found a letter in his medical file showing
he had made a full recovery from this operation and accused him of lying about
his condition.
He is angry that he has been treated as a dole fiddler despite battling to
overcome his disability and working for 47 years, often in excruciating
pain.
Robert, of Bushell Road, Newton Abbot, spent months waiting for his case to
be heard at Exeter Crown Court before it was thrown out in less than five
minutes.
He denied falsely claiming disability living allowance and Judge Francis
Gilbert, QC, recorded not guilty verdicts after Miss Emily Pitts offered no
evidence on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions.
He was wheeled into court by his wife Jean with a white bandage covering the
stump of his left leg, which was amputated in January. The judge allowed him to
remain in the well of the court because he could not get into the dock.
The case was dropped after defence solicitor Miss Ann Bellchambers obtained a
statement
from
Torbay Hospital consultant Mr Patrick Loxdale confirming that Robert had always
suffered from a disability which entitled him to benefit.
The consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Torbay Hospital who wrote to Exeter
Crown Court about Robert Punter said the prosecution was ‘barking mad’.
From
the Exeter Express and Echo, 20th August 2013. Read more:
