The king of benefit cheats?

[David Johnson]

"Is Julian Fellowes going to write the script for this new drama series "Toff Scroungers"?"

No, apparently it's the bloke who writes the script for "Shameless" on Channel 4.

[andy at handiwork]

I recall an episode of Steptoe and Son that had Albert claiming for his long deceased wife, and Harold having to pretend to be her, bed-ridden, when the DHSS inspector called to check.

[welkram]

Seems to me that there is much more to this story than meets the eye. The Telegraph reported that the father had died 5 months previously and was left in bed in the downstairs living room, and that the 29 year old son was also shareing the same house with his 10 year old daughter , that itself makes my mind wizz. And why the long jail term of 3 years just for 5 months of stolen benefits, my God we have people guilty of manslaughter do less jail time.

To me it just don't add up.

[Gusset Sniffer]

That crossed my mind too! It was about a ?1100??? He must have done something else to get 3 years and have his daughter taken into care?

[Peter]

Was it just benefits theft he got done for, or was failing to notify the coroner, not disposing of the body in a proper manner, etc, part of the charges too?

[steve56]

I recall that he dressed up as a woman didnt he?andy at handiwork wrote:

> I recall an episode of Steptoe and Son that had Albert claiming
> for his long deceased wife, and Harold having to pretend to be
> her, bed-ridden, when the DHSS inspector called to check.

[JamesW]

Peter wrote:

> Was it just benefits theft he got done for, or was failing to
> notify the coroner, not disposing of the body in a proper
> manner, etc, part of the charges too?


The recent news story concerned the man's court appearance on a criminal charge of preventing a lawful burial. The benefit fraud had been dealt with at an earlier hearing.

By the way, jim need not have commented on "the appalling stench of rotting flesh" mentioned in the original post of this thread, as the man was said in court to have made extensive use of air fresheners.

[jimslip]

JamesW wrote:

>
> By the way, jim need not have commented on "the appalling
> stench of rotting flesh" mentioned in the original post of this
> thread, as the man was said in court to have made extensive
> use of air fresheners.
>
That must have been the mother of all air fresheners! I remember leaving some burgers in a freezer that I'd turned off and left for a couple of months in France and when I got back and opened it the stench was overwealming, it was awful beyond belief. What was the most revolting sight was hundreds of flies killing themselves attempting to force their way through the rubber seal to get at the burgers!

Now imagine a whole dad left to rot, you gonna need an air freshener the size of this!

[img]http://sheryll.net/Sheryll/2010_MZT/201 ... nt_can.jpg[/img]