Paul DiAnno Is Goin' Up The River...

[Fat Freddy]

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

[kourosofsteel]

Let's see if Harris will send him some tobacco...Great news but still "some animals are more equal than others" (G. Orwell).

[Captain Howdy]

Its because of arseholes like him that normal people find it so hard to get any benefits due to them as it just gives the government another excuse to tighten things up.

I am currently on unemployed benefits, and at the current rate I would only get around £3000 a year (yeah, you tell me how thats a livable income), and then there is people like him going out their earning money performing, and still getting more benefits than me and thousands of other people.

[Fat Freddy]

^^^Believe me Captain, I have no sympathies for Mr. DiAnno either. My wife's been on unemployment for going on two years now, as a matter of fact her benefits run out soon and she's had zero luck finding a new gig thus far... I am trying not to think about how much life will suck very shortly if something doesn't happen soon... yet there are skells like this who find ways to cheat the system and stay on the dole for years and years.

 

So anyway, Paul deserves what he's got coming to him. I can't believe he'd be THIS stupid. It's like something out of that TV show "World's Dumbest Criminals," where somebody is claiming illness/injury to get benefits and the insurance company goes undercover and catches'em on tape surfing or lifting heavy furniture. Jackass.

[Captain Howdy]

I'll be the first to admit that I have done the odd days cash in hand work here and there, but I am always applying for jobs and have only done it to pay the bills here and there, its certainly not a regular thing. But what galls me with this case is that here is a guy who is claiming disability, meaning that he has no intention of looking for employment yet is continuing with his career (for want of a better word, considering how his career has gone).

 

As you say, it just amazes me that someone would do this considering the kind of exposure any gig has in this day and age.

We are in the digital age, not the 1980s where a small band could easily go unnoticed.

Theres probably no end of people who upload videos from gigs to YouTube, no matter how big or small the band is.

[AlphaMale]

Hope he don't drop the soap.

[Fat Freddy]

"I am not a free man... I am a number!"

[cdjunky41]

"I am not a free man... I am a number!"

 

 

 

You know, I heard about this shortly after the Stone Poney gig here in Joisey..

I swear, it wasn't me..

[Metal T]

He's always kinda been a loose cannon.Hopefully he does his time,learns from it and gets back to rockin'.Killers 'Murder One'

is a d!mn underrrated disc--some great stuff on that album.The 2 Maiden albums and the Battlezone stuff...all good stuff.

[Rockposer]

What a c**t

 

He should be forced to pay back every single penny.

[Dark Star]

What a complete tool.....

[RichieZ]

It's incredible that the vocalist for the first two Iron Maiden albums would have to do this for $72,000...:/

[the reg]

It's incredible that the vocalist for the first two Iron Maiden albums would have to do this for $72,000...:/

 

 

Yes it is and he has to tour central and south america hiring local bands to back him up,cant afford to pay musicians,oddly i heard blaze bailey is starting to do the same

[Captain Howdy]

Blaze is touring as part of Wolfsbane at the moment.

[the reg]

Paul was busted from some youtube videos where he was jumping around during concerts.....idiot