A globe-trotting benefits cheat who claimed she was too scared to leave her home was working as a tour guide in South America, a court heard.
Tracy Johnson said she suffered from agoraphobia with a fear of open spaces and had not left the UK for years.
But Merthyr Crown Court heard she lived a "champagne lifestyle".
It is alleged the 52-year-old from Frome, Somerset, who denies fraud, changed her address to her mother's home in Builth Wells to claim benefits.
Ms Johnson, who is representing herself, is accused of fraud, dishonestly making a false representation and dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances between January, 2008 and July, 2012. She denies 13 charges.
The court heard Ms Johnson picked up £50,000 in disability payments while running her own tour guide business in Argentina and even had bilingual business cards printed for her company called Northwest Nomad.
Ms Johnson, a published author, is also accused of globetrotting to other parts of the world while getting disability allowance.
Joanna James, prosecuting, said: "Tracy Johnson was living the life that honest, decent, hard working tax payers could only dream of.
"While workers were going out to do their daily grind she was shopping in New York or having a few days in Madrid."
The prosecution said in 2012 Ms Johnson decided to use taxpayers' money to have a four-month trip around India.
But when police searched her home luggage tags were still on her suitcases while receipts, flight confirmations and hotel reservations along with a diary of her travels in India were found.
Back in the UK, Ms Johnson had allegedly filled in benefits claim forms saying she needed physical and emotional support.
Jurors were told she claimed a friend cared for her on a daily basis, spending all her time in her bedroom where she felt "safe".
Tracy Johnson Tracy Johnson was arrested after police were tipped off, jurors were told
Miss James said: "She said she was unable to live on a day-to-day basis because she was agoraphobic, suffered depression, hallucinations, anxiety, blackouts and post traumatic stress disorder.
"She said she stumbled and fell repeatedly and could not walk more than five metres without help.
"She said she rarely came into contact with other people and was distressed and agitated when she talked of her illnesses.
"She claimed that she was so unwell that she was unable to live in her own home.
"But while submitting claim forms telling the authorities that she was unwell she was travelling the world on tax payers' money."
Ms Johnson was arrested after an anonymous tip-off about her alleged worldwide travels.
"It was absolute, blatant dishonesty," said Miss James.
Department of Work and Pensions fraud investigator Kim Osbourne told the jury Ms Johnson had changed her address to her mother's home in Builth Wells, Powys for the purpose of claiming benefits.
Mrs Osbourne said: "When asked for an interview she seemed to disappear and not cooperate with the departments."
The trial continues.
Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Good picture, nice looking woman.
What are the square ponds for? Evaporating something?
yrs,
rubato
What are the square ponds for? Evaporating something?
yrs,
rubato
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
So no ideas about the purpose of the square ponds? Awfully regular shape and size. Why? Do they have a commercially produced liner in them? Nice long straight rows across what appears to be a dry lake. The Desert SW of the United States has a lot of those in the Mojave and northern Sonoran desert. But they are not rare internationally. The rift valley in Africa has seasonal dry lakes (the US versions are only seasonal if 'season' means "many years'.)
yrs,
rubato
yrs,
rubato
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
They are salt ponds on a salt flat.
Hatred makes you stupid.
Hatred makes you stupid.
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
That is one possibility, Alluded to in the reference to 'evaporation' above. But by itself that does not explain what we are seeing. Why that size and shape? Evaporation ponds for salt in the SF bay area are much larger and very irregular in outline. They also produce a strong reddish color as the concentrating brine favors the proliferation of certain organisms:
Perhaps it is different if you are evaporating sea water than if you are evaporating a more concentrated solution made by dissolving the residue of previous evaporation.
Based on color that does not look like a 'salt flat' at least not one as pure as Bonneville. But if the salt has a large admixture of silicates it might be tan like that.
I don't think that merely producing sodium chloride salt would justify the expense they are going to there. Salt is cheap. Even ultra-high purity salt is pretty cheap (speaking as someone who uses the highest-purity chemicals avail. on earth).
Here you can see a transition between the 'whiter' more pure salt and the 'dirtier' areas. This is Badwater basin in Death Valley one of the more amazing places on earth.
yrs,
rubato
Perhaps it is different if you are evaporating sea water than if you are evaporating a more concentrated solution made by dissolving the residue of previous evaporation.
Based on color that does not look like a 'salt flat' at least not one as pure as Bonneville. But if the salt has a large admixture of silicates it might be tan like that.
I don't think that merely producing sodium chloride salt would justify the expense they are going to there. Salt is cheap. Even ultra-high purity salt is pretty cheap (speaking as someone who uses the highest-purity chemicals avail. on earth).
Here you can see a transition between the 'whiter' more pure salt and the 'dirtier' areas. This is Badwater basin in Death Valley one of the more amazing places on earth.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Joe Guy wrote:They are salt ponds on a salt flat.
Hatred makes you stupid.
You realize that you are only making my point for me, yes?
yrs,
rubato
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Nice data mining there Joe... 
Which you did yet again with flying colors...
No, actually he's given you another opportunity to demonstrate your mastery of the Unintentional Irony comedy genre...rubato wrote:Joe Guy wrote:They are salt ponds on a salt flat.
Hatred makes you stupid.
You realize that you are only making my point for me, yes?
yrs,
rubato
Which you did yet again with flying colors...
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
thanks! And see how much more interesting the world is when you engage in a question rather than the knee-jerk hatred bullshit?
11,000 ft elevation and in the Andes just on the east side opposite the Atacama desert. Surprising.
The width of the ponds must be scaled to the distance a human can reach across with a tool, rake or similar, and scrape the dirt out on one side and the evaporated salt out on the other.
You're welcome!
yrs,
rubato
11,000 ft elevation and in the Andes just on the east side opposite the Atacama desert. Surprising.
The width of the ponds must be scaled to the distance a human can reach across with a tool, rake or similar, and scrape the dirt out on one side and the evaporated salt out on the other.
You're welcome!
yrs,
rubato
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
A benefits cheat who claimed to have a fear of open spaces has been jailed for a year after being caught working as a tour guide in South America.
Former model Tracy Johnson, 52, claimed she was a "prisoner in her own home" suffering from severe agoraphobia.
She was found guilty at Merthyr Crown court of fraud, falsely claiming £48,000 in benefits.
Johnson, of Frome, Somerset, claimed the benefits from her mother's home in Builth Wells, Powys.
The published author will not have to repay any of the money she falsely claimed - other than the £600 she has already paid - because it has all been spent.
She was convicted earlier this month after a jury heard of her "champagne lifestyle", which included travels to Argentina, New York and Madrid.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
I know where they can find some salt to rub into her wounds.
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Not any more;
must be the agoraphobia bringing her down
must be the agoraphobia bringing her down
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Agoraphobia, doesn't look like this
Ahh, so that top picture of her is not a recent one....
And here I was thinking that she must have the same sort of portrait in her attic as Marie Osmond and Valerie Bertinelli...
And here I was thinking that she must have the same sort of portrait in her attic as Marie Osmond and Valerie Bertinelli...