by Paul Hooper

Keeping up with the Joneses shouldn’t have been that hard.

Reginald Jones, aged 53, was struggling to set up his own dog grooming company in Ramsgate... and needed working tax credits to help meet his bills.

Meanwhile wife Rose, 53, was battling a spinal condition for which meant she needed a variety of painkillers, had suffered a stroke, couldn’t climb stairs, was often bed-ridden, unsteady on her feet and was incontinent.

To survive, the Ramsgate couple needed to rely on incapacity benefits, Disability Living Allowance, Carer’s Allowance and Working Tax Benefits.

So it was a shock when fraud investigators began to take a close look at the 16 year medical history of Mrs Jones.

What they found was astonishing... rather than the sickly disabled image that Rose had portrayed with her loyal caring hubby the couple had:

• Enjoyed luxury scuba diving trips
• Claimed to have travelled to the Maldives,Indonesia and Osnabruck to do her diving exams
• Enjoyed golfing and ski-ing trips to Canada, Mexico, Romania, Bulgaria, Jamaica and Spain
• Owned a motor home
• Joined a yacht club
• Had a personalised number plate... B1G REG

And Rose held down TWO full-time jobs at the same time - as a caretaker and a concierge!

Now the couple have been convicted of pocketing more than £135,000 in state benefits to fund their lavish lifestyle.

Rose pleaded guilty to 11 offences of cheating the taxpayers and was found guilty on two others.

Hubby Reg – who now works as a paramedic - was convicted on six fraud charges.

The couple – who have since gone through an acrimonious marriage break-up, had lived at Nicholas Drive, Ramsgate when the scam was discovered.

Prosecutor Helen Guest told a jury at Canterbury Crown Court that from 1994 to 2010 the Jones kept up the pretence to officials that she was unable to work due to her crippling condition.

She revealed how Rose had answered one of the official documents:

“I cannot bend or kneel or pick up a piece of paper from the floor. Have problems sitting in a chair for five minutes and back tends to lock and it hurts to get up.

“I am bed-ridden... my back condition is deteriorating... I cannot walk for more than 50 metres without stopping or feeling severe discomfort.

"I have problems with stairs and am also unable to open a bottle of wine.”

She then claimed she couldn’t wash and dress without the help of her husband “because my back locks.”

Rose laid it on even thicker in another form in 1997, saying she suffered from “a severe back/spinal and nerve pain, which goes down both legs and thighs into my toes. Had spinal back operations.”

But ex-Para husband Reginald told a jury a different story... of her secret ski-ing and scuba trips to Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Panama with her lover.

He also told how in 2000 Rose landed a job at an MOD building at Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn in London – while working as a head concierge elsewhere in London.

The prosecutor told how she had gone to a doctor complaining she was unable to work... while holding down both of the jobs.

Rose alleged she was forced into signing all the applications by a husband who bullied her – and wanted money to fulfil his dream of a luxury lifestyle.

She told the jury how he had hit the children for being clumsy and screamed abuse at her calling her “a fat, useless c***”.

“He told me that I was not fit for anything. He said I would never reach his level. He was up there and he viewed us as down there.

“He liked money. He liked big things - expensive cars like Range Rovers, with personalised number plates, hi-fis, a nice house... everything we could not simply afford. He joined a golf club. It had to be the best equipment.”

She said that in Ramsgate, Reg wanted to join the Yacht Club... even though the couple didn’t have a boat!

And they were both members of the Kent Scuba Club in Northdown Road, Margate.

Rose claimed her husband also kept all the mail and passports locked away in a private locked filing cabinet – and he refused to allow her access to their bank accounts.

But in 2010, she walked out on their marriage after having an affair with her scuba diving instructor and has since returned to Germany with her lover.

She claimed she had to apply for another passport and secretly opened bank accounts prior to fleeing the marriage.

The prosecutor had told the jury that incapacity benefit had been paid after Rose claimed she had been unable to work for medical reasons.

But from March 1996 until February 2000 she worked at Marbleside Care Homes in Margate before landing two full-time jobs at the MOD and for a property management company in London.

“Mrs Jones was clearly capable of working – managing to hold down two jobs simultaneously for a significant period, “ said Mrs Guest.

When fraud officers raided their home, Reg asked them: “What am I supposed to have done?”

Rose would later claim she had a genuine degenerative spinal condition but her “violent and controlling” husband had bullied her into working.

The couple were given bail and will be sentenced next month – but the DWP might find it tough getting back the money as Mr Jones claims there “are no assets”.