Globe-trotting bodybuilder faces jail after being caught claiming £42,000 in DISABILITY benefits
Maria Hughes spent six years living on hand-outs as she toured the world as an athlete
A TOP woman bodybuilder claimed she was disabled and swindled £42,000 in benefits.
Maria Hughes, 45, showed off her muscles in contests around the world while lying on hand-out claims that she could barely walk.
She spent six years raking in Disability Living Allowance.
But under her stage name Maria Glazowska she even represented Britain in the Mr & Mrs Universe contest.
Yesterday she arrived at court in a wheelchair pushed by a friend and pleaded guilty to conning taxpayers out of the cash.
Hughes, of Meir, Staffs, told benefits staff she was riddled with arthritis in her knees, back and wrists, a judge heard.
She even claimed she had to shuffle up and down the stairs on her bottom.
But she was lifting weights and boasted in bodybuilding interviews she liked them as “heavy as possible”.
She was able to impress judges at Mr & Mrs Universe in Germany, where she came sixth in the Ms Physique category.
Video on YouTube shows her in a pink bikini flexing her muscles at the contest in Hamburg.
The judge at Stoke crown court heard how the fraudster had a previous conviction for growing £30,000 of cannabis.
She started weight training in jail after being sentenced to 15 months and launched herself on to the amateur bodybuilding circuit when she was released.
In one interview she said: “The fans want big, muscular, ripped women.
“Quite simply I was built for bodybuilding so I decided to do what Mother Nature obviously intended my body to do, which was to lift, and lift.”
She said the sport had transformed her from a “hard clubbing, rave scene, party animal”
Hughes said: “Like millions of other women I was brainwashed by society that thin was beautiful.
“I had biceps of 11.5in before I ever set foot in a gym.
“My calves were 15in and I was naturally big and muscled even after starving my body for years.
“So bodybuilding was a natural step for me.”
Building up the muscles in her legs was one aspect she particularly “loved”.
Hushes said: “Having abs for the first time in my life at the age of 41 was an incredible buzz.
“Now I just love seeing my body constantly develop and change.”
She will be sentenced on August 19.