Slow and laboured, this pensioner rests on her walking stick – every bit matching her claim she cannot walk 25 metres without stopping or experiencing severe discomfort.

But far from being in poor health, Zebunishia Gani is putting in a performance “deserving of an Oscar”, as she tries to con her way to a blue disability parking badge.

Last month she pleaded guilty to seven charges of fraud after being busted by investigators at Wandsworth Council, who filmed her carrying heavy shopping and walking unaided.

Gani, a company director, must wear an electronic tag, observe a house curfew and had to pay £850 costs after magistrates labelled her dishonesty as “serious, persistent and premeditated”.

On a blue badge permit application submitted to Wandsworth Council Gani, 64, claimed she could not walk 25 metres without problems, and had a letter from her GP confirming she needed a walking stick.

But the council, who first caught her using her husband’s out-of-date permit to park near Boyds – a shop the couple own in Mitcham Road – filmed her walking more than 100 metres without a stick on shopping trips, where she parked illegally.

As well as using her husband’s blue badge, registered at their Woodfield Grove home in Streatham, Gani also illegally applied for her own badge from Wandsworth, by fraudulently using her business address.

When she went to Wandsworth Council for her blue badge appointment she “happily walked to her car, swinging her stick in the air” and then drove to the town hall with her husband in the passenger seat, a council spokesman said.

He said: “When she arrived she had switched to the back seat, and her ability to walk had suddenly deteriorated.

“She had to be helped out of the car and could not walk without leaning heavily on her stick.

“She stopped every few paces to catch her breath and complained of constant pain and breathlessness.”

At the tape-recorded interview her solicitor read out a statement reiterating that Gani claimed she could walk no further than 25 metres, and had been advised by her physiotherapist to occasionally try to walk without a stick.

The spokesman said: “At this point she was shown the covert filming of her shopping trips, and from then on answered ‘no comment’ to all questions.”

The council’s transport spokesman, Guy Senior, said: “This case demonstrates the lengths some people will go to hoodwink and con their way into getting a blue badge.

“Mrs Gani deserves an Oscar for her dramatic performance.”

Anyone with information about blue badge misuse should contact the council on 0800 0850 866.