A Dover woman has claimed her husband, who pocketed £38,000 in benefits by faking a disability, didn't do it for the money.

April Totterdell – who is also accused of taking part in the con with ex-partner Graham– told a jury: “He just wanted a Blue Badge!”

She denies the charge of fraud and claims she took part in the scam “under duress”.

Marathon runner Mr Totterdell had been awarded the highest rate Disability Living Allowance after the couple claimed he could barely walk and “was a frail old man”.

He has admitted the fraud and will be sentenced at a later date.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how Mrs Totterdell, 48, signed benefit application forms telling how he needed a zimmerframe, a stick and crutches because of two injuries.

But the truth was that Mr Totterdell competed in runs in Ashford, Charing, Littlestone, Hamstreet, Paddock Wood, Folkestone, Deal, Lydd, and the London Marathon twice.

Defence barrister Dominic Webber asked her: “As far as you are aware was his motive purely financial?”

She replied: “It never occurred to me that it was financial, it was the Blue Badge which came with it, so he would have free parking and the privileges which goes with it.

“Then he decided that wasn’t enough because he had an obsession about people parking outside our house, and often he would damage cars if they parked there.

“So his next quest was to get a disabled parking bay outside the house so he could park his vehicle there.”

"It never occurred to me that it was financial, it was the Blue Badge which came with it, so he would have free parking and the privileges which goes with it" - April Totterdell

She claimed the former merchant navy sailor was a karate expert who would practice moves on her and was nicknamed “the animal” by the students he taught.

Mrs Totterdell also told the jury how he often demanded “really rough sex, three of four times a day” involving the use of cable ties.

She claimed she lived in fear of him and was forced to write the applications for the benefits and also the appeal papers when the DLA was cut.

Earlier, the court heard how Mr Totterdell had used the surname King – Mrs Totterdell's maiden name – when participating in some of the marathons.

Mr Totterdell pleaded guilty to fraud at an earlier hearing but his wife, now of Corton Crescent, Dover, has denied the same charge that between September 2009 and May 2015 she defrauded the Department of Work and Pensions out of £38,491.60.

Prosecutor Ian Foinette said: “The Crown says that this defendant, together with her husband Graham, were involved in extracting money from the DWP.

“Mr Totterdell, her former husband, has admitted the fraud but this defendant is now claiming she was acting under duress throughout this period.

“She says she was so abused, so threatened by him that she had no alternative but to assist in taking a leading role in taking money to which they were not entitled," he alleged.

The jury is expected to retire today to consider its verdict.