Costa del Dole has become the Costa del Malinger.

Ukip MEP Campbell Bannerman

EXPATS in Spain have been accused of widespread incapacity benefit fraud.

It comes after it emerged that many of the estimated 2,500 claimants in Spain have been receiving the payments for more than five years without having their cases reviewed.

The British authorities are looking to clamp down on the widespread abuse to save some of the 55 million euros paid each year to expatriates abroad.

“If people cannot bother to prove their illness then they should no longer prey on the taxpayer.”

A total of 9,660 Britons are claiming incapacity benefits overseas, with at least a quarter of these living in Spain.

A loophole means that many of them have been receiving payments of up to 109 euros a week for over five years, without going through standard reviewing processes.

They got the benefits by simply producing doctor’s notes stating they are ‘too sick to work’. About a third of these claimants are under 50.

It has been estimated that 90 per cent of Britain’s 2.6m incapacity benefit recipients are, in fact, capable of working.

“This is a loophole that should be closed down,” said Tory MP Philip Davies, who called it “unacceptable’ that while those living in the UK had to go through a reviewing process that expatriates were exempt from.

Ukip MEP Campbell Bannerman said: “What was the Costa del Dole has become the Costa del Malinger.

“If people cannot bother to prove their illness then they should no longer prey on the taxpayer.

WITNESSES of the murder of Dan Smith are being threatened by associates of the gunman not to give evidence.

Smith, 24, was shot four times at point blank range while sitting outside the Lounge Bar, in Riviera, by a motorbike gunman.

“My son’s killer has just got another coward to do his dirty work.”

Now, regulars have revealed they have been warned not to speak to the police by associates of alleged killer Eric Wilson, who has been arrested and refused bail.

“Associates of Wilson have driven past the bar a number of times and a few threats have come in.”

Meanwhile, Smith’s distraught mother, Karen Wetherell, 47, branded the associates ‘animals’ for the intimidation.

“My son’s killer has just got another coward to do his dirty work,” explained Wetherell, from Alhaurin.

“These guys are not even people, they are animals. All my son did was protect a girl, that’s all he ever did his whole life.”

Police apprehended Irishman Eric ‘Lucky’ Wilson at his mountain farm in Coin.

They found explosives, grenades and fake passports, while Irish police confirmed he was “dangerous” and involved in drug trafficking.

 

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