Slap him in an Iron maiden!
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 9:38 pm
The former lead singer of heavy metal band Iron Maiden is facing jail after he was exposed as a benefit cheat.
Paul Andrews, 52, claiming he suffered nerve damage in his back which prevented him from working but a video posted on YouTube showed him jumping around on stage during a live show.
Known and idolised by millions worldwide as frontman Paul Di'Anno, the heavily tattooed rocker admitted in court to swindling taxpayers out of more than £45,000.
They included wrongly claiming income support of more than £10,000 between 2005 and 2008.
The bald, goatee-bearded former star - fired by Maiden in 1981 under a cloud of drug-taking allegations he always denied - was caught out when Department of Work and Pensions investigators saw the 2006 YouTube video of him.
Andrews, whose former group Iron Maiden had huge hits including Run To The Hills and The Number Of The Beast, was still performing on stage and releasing records.
Investigators had been given an anonymous tip-off that he was still singing.
They then found footage, from his own website and video sharing site YouTube, which showed Andrews energetically leaping around on stage, singing to fans.
The singer, whose autobiography - titled The Beast - bills him as the 'wildest man in rock', even released fresh material while stashing benefits.
Andrews' solo album 'The Living Dead' came out in 2006.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1DglO2iGw