A PUB landlady cheated taxpayers out of almost £20,000 by claiming she could not walk properly.

Anne-Marie Sherratt had claimed that she was unable to work due to her disability but in reality she was serving beer, mopping floors and changing barrels at the Bull’s Head pub in Walkden.

The 42-year-old was caught by fraud investigators acting on an anonymous tip off and at Manchester Crown Court she was given a eight-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

The court heard that in 1995 Sherratt had started claiming income support after badly fracturing her ankle and being unable to work.

But the following year she took over the running of the Bull’s Head and failed to report her change in circumstances.

She had claimed she could only walk 10 yards in three minutes but investigators filmed her walking 300 metres on a shopping trip. They calculated she had fraudulently claimed £19,626.21 before finally being arrested last year.

Sherratt pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to notify a change in circumstances.

As well as the suspended prison sentence Judge Peter Lakin ordered her to do 150 hours unpaid work and she will be electronically tagged and placed under a curfew for three months.

Sherratt is currently having the money she stole deducted from benefits she is now legally claiming.