Benefits cheat mother who said she was too fat to make herself a cup of tea claimed £100,000 despite shedding 19 stone Judge branded Tracey Shellard a 'lying scrounger' for continuing to claim benefits despite massive weight loss 49-year-old claimed she depended on a mobility scooter Four-month sting operation caught Shellard on camera carrying heavy TV Shellard, of Manchester, was given 12-month suspended sentence A mother swindled £100,000 in benefits after claiming she was "so fat she couldn't make herself a cup of tea" - despite losing two-thirds of her body weight. Tracey Shellard, 49, weighed 28 stone at her biggest and needed a mobility scooter to get around. Five years ago she finally began to shed the pounds and her health dramatically improved. Shamed: Tracey Shellard, 49, pictured leaving Manchester Crown Court, said she needed benefits because she could not even make a cup of tea due to her 28 stone weight But Shellard, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, hid the good news from the authorities until her svelte new figure was revealed by a surveillance operation mounted by the Department for Work and Pensions. Officers saw her carrying a 32-inch television the length of Wythenshawe Forum and taking her dog for mile-and-a-half walks. Shellard also lied about living alone to rake in income support, housing benefit, and council tax benefit between 2002 and 2011. 'Lying scrounger': Tracey Shellard was blasted by the judge for claiming to be too fat to work - despite undergoing dramatic weight loss The investigation revealed that she was in fact living with her husband of 23 years, who was in work and supporting her financially. The shamefaced mum went on to admit four charges of failing to notify of a change in circumstances - and was branded a "lying scrounger" by a judge when she appeared for sentence at Manchester Crown Court. But she was spared jail, even though she has convictions for a previous benefits fraud in the Nineties, after the court heard of her parenting responsibilities. Giving her a 12-month suspended sentence, with a six-month curfew and 80 hours of unpaid work, Mr Recorder Sephton QC said: 'Many people in this court and outside it would regard you quite rightly as a scrounger - and a lying scrounger at that, because you are taking money this country desperately needs to serve your own ends.' The judge said he took into account that she had got a job and had completed training courses which meant she had made herself "a useful member of society instead of a sponger." Jonathan Rogers, prosecuting, told the court that Shellard had been overpaid a total of £98,000, although she would have been entitled to around £8,000 of the cash in tax credits if she had been honest. She claimed disability living allowance from 2000, with payments increased to a higher rate after she detailed health problems linked to her obesity. Back in 2003, she said in a DWP interview that she struggled to stand up again after sitting down, used a walking stick indoors, needed help to stop her "sliding off pillows" in bed, couldn't make a cup of tea without dropping it, and was dependent on a mobility scooter when she left the house. She told officers: 'If I had help I would go everywhere - I just want to be normal, but I know that will never be.' However, in 2008, Shellard began getting more exercise and lost eight stone, and by 2011 she had lost another eleven stone. A four-month surveillance operation mounted that year revealed she could walk briskly unaided and carry heavy shopping, and after she was arrested that September she went on to get a job at a nursing home, working up to 48 hours a week. Denise Fitzpatrick, defending, said Shellard had "learned her lesson" and would "work seven days a week" to make amends.