BENEFIT SCROUNGERS

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Carl and Samantha Gillespie, together with their 12 children, have moved into a detached period house, with eight bedrooms, a garden, its own driveway and all set in a leafy residential area of Newbury, Berkshire. It's the type of highly-desirable family home that is well beyond the reach of many middle-class professionals but they've been given the keys without paying a penny. The couple, who receive an astonishing £44,000 in benefits a year, have been housed in the £500,000 property by their local council.

West Berkshire County Council gave them the keys after their previous council home burnt down in a blaze sparked by one of the couple's children. The Gillespies have been dubbed 'Britain's biggest scroungers' and are the most notorious example of people taking advantage of our generous benefits system. The £44,000 benefits includesf £1,500 a month housing benefit, £1,200 a month child tax credit, £560 a month child benefits, £280 job seeker's allowance and £1,600 a year in council tax.

The couple say they don't work because looking after their children is a full time job and they would earn less working than they do claiming the dole. Mr Gillespie quit a job at stacking shelves at Asda before he had even started, when he realised the £300 a week he would earn would result in a £400 benefits cut. He said, "Some people may think we're a bunch of spongers, but it's not true." His wife added, "I was born to have children, it's what I am here for."

Prior to their latest home, the Gillespies were housed in a five-bedroom property in Purley-on-Thames, Berkshire. However, in June last year the property burnt down when one of the family's youngest twins played with a cigarette lighter. Following that they lived in temporary council accommodation and the children were ferried to and from school in a minibus, paid for by the council. Their latest home, formerly a hotel, is estimated to have cost £350,000 to buy and a further £150,000 to renovate with double-glazing, carpets, central heating and furniture. (Source: Daily Mail, Jul/07)

Martin McLoughlin defended his foul-mouthed family after six of them were handed ASBOs. The freeloading family are set to be banished from the whole of Lancashire after an eight-year reign of terror and his wife and all four of their sons, one just 14, have been barred from going out at night by the unprecedented anti-social behaviour order. Defiant McLoughlin, is vowing to fight the interim ASBOs and said the accusations against himself, wife Christine and sons were "bullshit", and complained how his family struggle to survive on £1,000 a month benefits.

McLoughlin accused police of "victimising" his family and has made a complaint to the Police Professional Standards Board. He is also threatening to sue Lancashire Police, and since the family have no money it will be the taxpayer who funds their expensive legal aid bill. The interim ASBOs came after family members were accused of being involved in 500 incidents in Morecambe since 1999, including vandalism, handling stolen goods and terrorising a wheelchair victim. The interim ASBOs force them to stay indoors between 11pm and 7am and ban them from swearing or harassing people anywhere in England and Wales.

Anyone breaking the order could be landed with a five-year stretch in jail but one of the brood, a convicted arsonist, stormed, "We are not the family from hell, we are more like the Royle family off the telly. I can't even say 'bloody'. It's an infringement of free speech. Whatever happened to being allowed to speak your mind in this country? We will be fighting this ASBO all the way." The family were kicked out of their council house in Morecambe but they trashed it before they quit and left the garden strewn with rubbish.

They have moved into a £70,000 home which belongs to a woman friend who is charging them just £500 rent a month. It has a widescreen TV, leather sofas and DVD players in every bedroom. McLoughlin said, "We're over the moon and very lucky. The rent is a bargain and we'll get some, if not all, of the amount covered by housing benefit. We've landed on our feet. We'll never step foot in Morecambe again." (Source: Sunday People, Feb/07)

Aubrey and partner Kelly have claimed thousands in handounts. Kelly pockets nearly £20,000 a year in welfare payments, but still moans, "It's a hard life on benefits." And now, their break-up is now costing thousands more, as they fight a legal aid-funded battle for custody of their 10 dependant kids. Aubrey, who left their home in Orpington, Kent, with four of the kids, said, "These people who criticise, it's because they don't know us." They lived in two houses which council bosses knocked into one to house them all.

Kelly said, "Having seven bedrooms is great, I love it. I have a spare room for guests. My brother is living in there." As well as child benefit, chain-smoker Kelly picks up around £1,000 a month in tax credits, disability payments and income support. She pays £43 rent a week and no council tax, and she can afford to go clubbing every Saturday night, and even splashed out more than £600 on an African grey parrot.

Most of her money goes on the kids. She explained, "We used to make them share the Xbox but it meant that they didn't get much time on it. So now we have two Xboxes and three PlayStations." Kelly drives a BMW. Aubrey drives a Jaguar and spends his days tending his 38 canaries, one parrot, one dog and 18 tropical fish. (Source: News of the World, Mar/07)

Mark Corby, who gets £20,000-a-year in benefits, has a massive Christmas lights decorating the outside of his four-bedroom semi. And he is running up a small fortune in electricity burned to keep his display lit 7 hours a day for 7 weeks. Corby, who has not worked for three years, admits he had lost track of how much he and his jobless wife get in income support, housing benefit, incapacity benefit, family allowance and child tax credits.

He said, “A few years ago it was very tough to get by on state benefits. But it’s much easier these days because of all the tax credits. If I was self-employed I could earn £30,000 a year but I don’t want to be my own boss. And to be honest, it’s not worth me working for less than £20,000. All the money I get just goes in the bank and I use my switch card to pay for everything. Why shouldn’t I spend some of it on Christmas decorations? Poverty is all relative.”

Corby claims to be too ill to work but refuses to say what was wrong with him. His wife Susan is also long-term sick and Corby claimed he needs to be off to care for her. They have eight children aged eight months to 14 years at home. Two older children have left home and have jobs. Local people are incensed by the display. One stormed, “Mr. Corby is a fit and able man who shows no sign of physical or mental impairment preventing him from doing an honest day’s work."

They added, "All his children are regularly dressed in designer clothes and expensive sportswear. The thing that upsets the hard-working people in the area most is the amount of Christmas lights he has, which put Blackpool illuminations to shame. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It looks like Las Vegas on steroids. They must have cost many hundreds of pounds, if not thousands, yet it’s all done on benefits.” (Source: The Sun)

A family of 16 has revealed they are better off staying at home and claiming benefits than getting a job. Mother-of-fourteen Dawn Cain, who is expecting her 15th baby in April, and husband Sean are given £36,847 in tax-free benefits a year. Mr Cain, a former landscape gardener, has been out of work since 2003 when he took time off to help his wife care for their children but he soon realised his family was better off claiming benefits than if he worked. He said, "With the social giving us £700 a week, why should I work for anything less? There's no point me even trying to look for a job. I've got a family of 15 to support. I'm better off staying at home and helping Dawn with the kids. People could call us scroungers but what would they do in the same situation?"

Rent on the Cains's home in Wythenshawe, Manchester, is paid for them and they do not have to pay their £1,023-a-year council tax. They get £7,176 in child benefit, £22,828 in child tax credits and free school dinners for eight of their children worth £1,920. Mr Cain also receives £3,900 in Jobseeker's Allowance. (Why? You have to prove you are actively seeking employment in order to qualify for this benefit!) The total amount is £36,847 a year, equivalent to someone earning a gross salary of £51,500. Mrs Cain, who has not worked since she was 18, added, "I'm a good mum. I breastfed them all and with each one I learn a bit more, so I think, "well why not have another one?" I look after my kids well and make sure we get by. And every Christmas I make sure they get everything they want." (Source: Daily Mail, Dec/09)