Pudsey Bear gets jail time for £9.8k benefits fraud

A 31-year-old cartoon bear has appeared in court charged with fraudulently claiming nearly £10,000 in benefits he was not entitled to.

Pudsey Bear, from Pudsey, West Yorkshire, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Friday charged with three counts of failing to notify the Department of Work and Pensions of his change in circumstances and one count of dishonesty for making a false statement in order to obtain benefits.

Pudsey pretended he was disabled by wearing an eye patch over his right eye when in actual fact, his eye was working fine and he did not need the eye patch. Pudsey further claimed that it took him as long as four hours to walk from the BBC studios in Elstree, Hertfordshire to the Co-op down the road, however it was discovered that this was normal for stuffed teddy bears and was not due to a disability.

The court heard how Pudsey claimed a total of £9,830.68 in benefits in 2012, for which he was not entitled.

Initially, Pudsey was claiming the benefits correctly in 2005, but continued to claim them despite a change in his circumstances in which became employed as the mascot for BBC's Children In Need.

DWP became aware of the situation after noticing the bear on BBC 1's Children In Need, and an investigation was launched with private investigators stationed outside the TV studios in Hertfordshire. Pudsey was secretly photographed reading a copy of the Watford Mercury without his eye patch, smoking and being manhandled by 10 year old Pudsey fans.

Speaking at court, magistrate Neil Russell said: “We have heard you have pleaded guilty to these four offences which have cost the tax payer over £9,000.

“For these four offences, the sentence would have been 26 weeks in prison, reduced on the basis of your early guilty plea to 18 weeks which will run concurrently to your existing sentence.

“There will be no financial implications to this – the local authority will seek to make whatever arrangements they need to get the money back. There will be no costs due to the prosecution nor a victim surcharge to be paid.”

The BBC will not be recruiting for a new Children In Need mascot as Pudsey will have served his time before the next Children In Need event.