A TOP water polo coach who claimed she could only walk with a stick has been found guilty of wrongly claiming disability benefits.

Joanne Kirk, who travelled across Europe as team manager of the England girls under-17s water polo team, was given a higher rate of benefits for her mobility needs.

She suffers from Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, resulting in muscle weakness, but prosecutors at Bolton Crown Court claimed her employers never saw her using a stick or showing visible effects of the illness. She denied dishonestly notifying Department for Work and Pensions about her change in her circumstances but a jury reached a unanimous verdict in just over two hours yesterday.

The trial had heard from a friend of Kirk's, called as the last witness by the defence, that she hid her disability so well "only friends" knew something was wrong.

Jane Solheim, a school friend of Kirk, said she could scarcely believe the change in her when they resumed their friendship in 2004.

At school she danced and was an active girl, and when Mrs Solheim saw her decades later she could not believe it was her, a court heard.

Kirk told Mrs Solheim that she had developed a muscle condition after leaving school and had been treated for it in hospital.

Kirk, who suffers from the rare condition which causes muscle weakness, claimed she could only walk for about 50 metres before being in severe discomfort and that she would sometimes fall over.

She got divorced in 2009 and Mrs Solheim said she did not realise how much her husband actually did for her.

She said: "That is when we became really close friends. I found myself helping her like taking the children to the swimming baths if she was not having a good day. She would phone and ask even if she needed a light bulb changing."

Kirk, aged 49, of Bolton Old Links Golf Club, Chorley Old Road, Bolton, said on her disability living allowance applications in 1996 and 2007 that she found it difficult to open heavy doors and that she had problems putting clothes on unaided, the court heard.

Prosecutors argued that between 2001 and 2006, Kirk was employed by Wirral Council five days a week as a swimming instructor, teaching children how to swim and walking alongside the pool.

Then in 2010, she became the team manager of the England girls under 17s water polo team, which involved regular weekend training camps in Cardiff, as well as trips around Europe.

Kirk will be sentenced on June 2.