'Disabled' Natalie Davis claimed thousands of pounds in benefits, saying she was wheelchair-bound seven days a week.
In reality she was holidaying abroad, hot air ballooning, riding elephants, flying down zip lines and climbing mountains - as well as running a brothel.
Davis, 51, of Bristol Road, Hewish, was to face a two-day trial for benefit fraud today. (August 21)
But she pleaded guilty to dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances between January 6, 2010 and September 1, 2018, amounting to £17,700.15.
The recorder Mr Marcus Pilgerstorfer called for a probation report before sentence on August 22.
Lucy Taylor, prosecuting, said Davis started claiming Disability Living Allowance from 1999, on the basis she had the condition ME as well as chronic fatigue syndrome and asthma.
In 2006 she maintained that she still had all the medical issues as well as panic attacks as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Miss Taylor told the court: "She said she was not able to walk.
"She said she could walk five metres before the pain was unbearable.
"She said that was seven days a week and she needed people to help her in and out of a wheelchair.
"She also said she could not go out alone due to panic attacks and she was at risk of falling in shops or in the street."
Davis claimed stated she was often too weak to get out of bed or use the toilet and needed help with showering and dressing.
As a result she was awarded mobility Disability Allowance indefinitely from 2006, the court heard.
News from court
But in 2007 she took over Butterfly's massage parlour in Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, which police investigated for being a brothel from 2017.
Surveillance established supposedly immobile Davis getting in and out of cars, going up and down stairs, cleaning a courtyard, moving rubbish, carrying bags of shopping and banking.
And when a warrant was executed at her home, a digital memory card contained an album of holiday snaps including:
- 2013 trip to Africa, hot air ballooning, fishing and jeep safari
- 2015 trip to East Asia, riding elephants, relaxing on a lilo at sea
- 2016 trip to Snowdonia, zip-lining and climbing
When interviewed Davis said she did have good days
The prosecutor referred to a BBC TV Inside Out West investigation in 2017 in which a reporter tried to speak to her outside her home and she ran - quite fast - into her property.
Benefit fraud investigators also established she had taken easyJet flights from Bristol to Spain alone and without mobility aids.
When interviewed Davis said her mum had suggested she had bad days, so she was entitled to benefit, the court heard.
She added that when she went on holiday she just laid on sunbeds.
Nicholas Clough, defending, said his client had initially claimed legitimately.
He said her raft of illnesses fluctuated day to day and week to week, and reporting any improvement in her mobility to the DWP had been the last thing on her mind.
In January this year Davis pleaded guilty to controlling prostitution for gain.
Judge Mark Horton handed her a prison sentence of two years and six months.
He told Davis: "You exploited women in the sex industry who you employed for very serious and substantial financial gain."
Davis successfully appealed the jail term and was handed 12 months prison, suspended for 12 months.
