A WIRRAL man who brazenly cheated the state out of £68,000 by falsely claiming he could barely walk went on 19 luxury cruises and made two trips to Australia.

Kevin Patrick McEntee, from Prenton, not only pretended that he was severely disabled to get his hands on the cash but also faked claims in his wife's name exaggerating her own disability.

A court heard that although it was true he had a heart attack, just six weeks later he went to the Mediterranean on the first of a series of sunshine cruises at taxpayers expense over 12 years.

And while he claimed he had become "a hermit" and took two minutes to walk 15 metres he was actually a keen cyclist and bragged to his sister-in-law that the lycra shorts he wore showed off his physique.

He was in a cycling club going on lengthy bike rides several times a week and even threatened to sue his local council in 2010 after suffering an accident while out riding his bike.

Jailing 64-year-old McEntee today for two years Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said that the fraud "funded an obviously lavish life style."

He continued: "Anyone looking at the forms as filled in by you would have assumed that they were dealing with a couple who were very seriously disabled and in need of constant care and attention.

"The sad reality is that very little if any of this was true and any member of the public who hears or reads about this case and discovers what you and your wife were in fact doing and fully able to do - of the lifestyle you both enjoyed throughout this period - would be entitled to feel complete outrage."

The couple went on 19 foreign cruises, including trips to the Mediterranean, Brazil and the Caribbean and twice visited their daughter in Australia.

Judge Menary continued: "You often cruised twice a year and sometimes three times a year. Some of these trips were taken only weeks before or weeks after you completed a claim form in which you described yourself and your wife as virtually housebound.

"Funds to pay these benefits are limited and should only go to those who need them - not to those who seek to cheat the system by faking disability".

McEntee, of Holm Lane, Prenton, had denied five fraud offences between April 2000 and February 2012 but was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court last week and remanded in custody until today for sentence.

Kevin Slack, prosecuting, told the jury that McEntee began claiming disability living allowance (DLA) in 1996 but only claim forms from 2000 still exist.

He obtained £48,000 in his own name and filled out DLA claim forms in his wife's name "knowing full well the details he was putting on the form were untruthful" and so obtained a further £20,000.

On his first claim he said he had torn lumbar discs with osteoarthritis in surrounding joints, cervical spondylosis, diverticular disease, depression and had recently suffered a heart attack.

He retired on health grounds in 1996 after a back injury at work.

McEntee claimed he had difficulty walking and needed his wife’s help to get around. He said he could only walk 25 metres, which would take up to a minute, before feeling severe discomfort.

He also said he used a walking stick, would fall or stumble on a weekly basis and suffered anxiety and panic attacks when outside after having his heart attack in the street in 1999.

Mr Slack said: "He said that his wife helped him on the rare occasions he used the stairs. He also said that he needed help to get in and out of bed and was unable to turn over in bed on his own.

"He was also unable to get dressed or undressed without assistance and was unable to peel or chop food due to loss of dexterity in his fingers and had difficulty cutting up his own food."

McEntee said he "didn't have a social life anymore and felt cut off from the rest of the world" since becoming disabled."

He said he tended not to move much from his home and had become something of a hermit.

But his wife's sister, Linda Dodd, told how she had never known him have difficulty walking and had returned to cycling after his heart attack and purchased better and better bikes.

She also revealed that she and her genuinely disabled husband, Alan, went on a cruise with him and his wife in 2001 and again ten years later when McEntee pushed her husband around in his wheelchair in Alicante and Gibraltar.

The court heard that McEntee’s lies were revealed in holiday videos and photographs later seized from his home.

In December 2002 he denied on a claim form having been abroad in the last 12 months but the previous March he had flown to Rio de Janeiro to join a 14 day cruise around the Caribbean and had not requested special assistance.

On his claim form he said his health had deteriorated and it took him two minutes to walk 15 metres and tended to fall every day.

He said he could not move about without the help of his carer, had had home adaptations and had to get his wife Pauline to sign his claim form.

But the previous March he had flown to Rio de Janeiro to join a 14-day cruise around the Caribbean and sailed from Southampton to Barbados nine months later and had not requested special assistance on either trip.

His activities also included assisting with the entertainment committee at British Legion in Heswall - where and his wife were seen dancing - renovating his bathroom and helping a neighbour replace fascia boards.

By February 2012 he was maintaining to the DWP, however, that he used a walking frame and could only walk three metres before feeling severe discomfort.

He also claimed he avoided going outdoors and was agoraphobic. Yet four months later he holidayed in Australia, a trip which followed hot on the heels of another cruise and all without using any walking aids.

His wife genuinely began receiving DLA in 2008 after being diagnosed with bowel cancer but two years later McEntee filled in her claim forms deliberately exaggerating her health difficulties including needing support to walk.

Two months after one such form she was photographed on a cruise ship near the Rock of Gibraltar standing without assistance and the next year, 2011, they were on another Mediterranean cruise.

Secret surveillance on the couple at the end of 2012 and early the next year showed him apparently severely disabled getting out of his car at home but later the same day pulling a large suitcase to the check in at Manchester Airport and walking half a mile to the departure gate with his wife, both unaided.

When interviewed McEntee claimed he was in constant pain but forced himself to do certain things and only cycled short distances on medical advice following his heart attack. He said the cruises he went on were all designed for the elderly and disabled and the warm weather eased his symptoms.

Eric Lamb, defending, said that McEntee’s marriage has broken up since the offences came to light. He has genuine medical problems and has neurosis and had two psychological blows involving his wife’s diagnosis and the break-up of their relationship.