• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

Ex-IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO Faces Jail Time For Falsely Claiming Benefits

February 11, 2011

According to the Daily Mail, former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno (real name: Paul Andrews) is facing jail time after he falsely collected U.K. government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.

Di'Anno, 52, admitted swindling taxpayers out of more than £45,000 (approximately $72,000) by claiming a range of incapacity benefit, housing benefit and council tax handouts, by stating he was to ill to work, between 2002 and 2008. He claimed to be suffering from Sciatica, or nerve damage to the back.

D'Anno was reportedly busted when investigators at Department Of Work And Pensions (DWP) received an anonymous tip that he was still singing. They then found videos and pictures on YouTube and the rocker's own web site of Di'Anno "energetically leaping around on stage, singing to fans around the world."

Honorary Recorder Judge Andrew Barnett told Di'Anno at yesterday's hearing at at Salisbury Crown Court, "You have got the sense and courage to plead guilty to these matters, but you have to understand that they are very serious.

"Although all sentence options will be open, you should prepare yourself for a prison sentence — and an immediate one at that."

Di'Anno will be sentenced on March 11.

Di'Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses.

"In 1991 I did a couple of stints in jail for guns and drugs," Di'Anno explained in a 2010 interview. "I was stupid. But after I'd done my stretch they still treated me like a criminal. And I was — but I wasn't that bad. So I didn't feel good about America. The government, not the people.

"Prison was tough, but I'm tougher. I was nobody's bitch, put it that way. You've got to do it; otherwise people will walk all over you."

(Thanks: Buggerjuice)

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).