WATCH the video that caught Staffordshire teacher who fiddled disability allowance

Kelly Hopton told in the video how her life had been transformed by surgery and concluded: "I went into the hospital in a wheelchair and nine days later walked out. It's a miracle."

The 35-year-old was also featured in My Weekly magazine and appeared in a photograph captioned 'delighted to be back on my feet,' the court was told.

But after the 'miraculous' March 2011 operation she continued to claim the disability living allowance granted to her three years earlier in October 2008.

Officials from the Department of Work and Pension said that during a review in 2010 Hopton had claimed to be so restricted by her back complaint that she even needed help to brush her teeth. They said also said she had difficulty bending and stretching, had to be accompanied when outdoors and used elbow crutches to get about.

Investigators from the Government department launched an inquiry into the case last year after a tip off and secretly filmed her carrying bags of shopping and bending and stretching while on three trips to Tesco and Morrison branches in Lichfield.

Two of these were on successive days, magistrates at Burton were told.

Hopton from Park Gate Road, Rugeley taught part time at Chadsmead Primary Academy in Lichfield from 2002 until 2013 and is now understood to be on the full time staff at Jerome Primary in Norton Canes.

She told the court that she had lied in the YouTube video and magazine article and had been told what to say by others. She maintained that she was still in pain and had still been entitled to claim the benefit pay outs. The DWP did not dispute that she had a medical complaint but argued that her capabilities and care needs had been significantly improved by the operation.

She pleaded not guilty but magistrates yesterday convicted her of failing to report a change in circumstances in a fraud that involved illegally collecting a total of £13,886.40 disability living allowance between June 2011 and November 2013.

She was fined £450 with £100 costs and a £75 victim surcharge.

The DWP said after the case: "It is our duty to ensure that benefit payments go to those who really need them and we are committed to cracking down on those who play the system. Our welfare reforms are vital to close the gaps that cheats take advantage of.

"It is unfair that some people get support when they do not have a disability, while many people depend on the benefits system to provide a safety net. Deliberately not informing us of a change in your condition that may affect your claim is a crime. Don't wait for our fraud investigators to find you. Tell us of a change now."