Ex-IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO Jailed For Falsely Claiming Benefits

March 11, 2011

According to the Daily Mail, former IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno (real name: Paul Andrews) was jailed today 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, was sentenced to nine months for swindling £45,000 (approximately $72,000) in benefits. He was told he would serve at least four and a half months of the sentence behind bars before being released on conditional bail.

Jane Miller QC, sentencing at Salisbury Crown Court today (Friday, March 11),said Di'Anno's public image had nothing to do with the case and he would be treated like anybody else. She said, "Your public persona is not relevant. Your greed has cost this country a lot of money. The claims were for a long time and for a large cost. It must be a custodial sentence.

"In 2002 you started claiming benefits when it was quite clear you were already working.

"It took many years to track you down, in 2007 you performed at 69 venues, in 2006 you performed 67 times.

"I do not accept you only got expenses. I give you credit for your guilty pleas and reduce the sentence from the guideline 12 months to that of nine months."

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."

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."

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