BENEFIT SCROUNGERS

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Ellen Morris claims more than £27,000 a year in benefits, smokes 40 cigarettes a day and has a taste for vodka. She has also been seen behind the wheel of a Land Rover Discovery. But when she appeared before magistrates in Burnley for driving while disqualified she escaped a fine by pleading poverty. Not only that, she also had £1,800 worth of previous unpaid fines written off. Magistrates ordered her to remain in the court building for two hours as a token punishment in return for their generosity.

Although the magistrates had the power to jail her for up to six months, they imposed a 12-month community order for the latest offence and cut her £2,831 of outstanding fines, imposed for the initial drink-driving charge and an accumulation of other offences, to £1,040. Mary Thomas, chairman of the bench, said £20 a week would be deducted from her benefits to pay off the remainder and warned her she faced jail if she broke the law again.

Morris, a mother of 13, boasted that she wants more children as it would make her eligible for more benefits and a larger house. She said, "I'd like another couple of kids. Why not? It's not easy making the money stretch. They all want the latest gear and Nike trainers and I like Lacoste jumpers. Then there's my cigs. I smoke 40 a day and I like vodka and Coke. You've got to have some pleasures in life." She said she needs to double the £27,000 a year to live comfortably. (Source: Mail on Sunday, Mar/06)

One family sum up all that is wrong with the welfare state, the Bardleys of Rochdale. The scrounger on £38,402 a year who appeared on TV’s 'Wife Swap' gets £4,446 for being depressed by his father’s death, six years ago. Mark Bardsley claims the incapacity benefit along with a fortune in state cash for his wife Lizzie and their EIGHT kids. The Benefits Agency launched a probe as the grasping couple were blasted in their home town of Rochdale. Furious callers bombarded the town hall and DSS to complain about the foul-mouthed pair.

The council’s Tory leader Ashley Dearnley slammed the Bardsleys for portraying the “worst possible image” of the town. He stormed, “Many people have lost their parents and faced worse situations like losing their children, but they don’t expect a benefit for depression for the next six years.” He said of the scroungers, “If they put as much effort into work as into claiming benefits they could be very successful.” Shadow work and pensions minister Oliver Heald fumed, “We need to make sure hard-working families who do the right thing are better off than the families who don’t.”

Millions tuned into the Channel 4 show, in which wives spend time with different families. Call centre worker Emma Spry who swapped places with Lizzie, was shocked to learn how much the family got. The mum of two and husband Colin, an Exeter restaurant boss who works 70 hours a week, are on £10,000 LESS. Emma said, “I am really pleased their benefits are being checked. I bet the Bardsleys are only the tip of the iceberg.” Lizzie said it was only right taxpayers should foot the bill for her brood and the £70 a week she blows at bingo.

What they receive:

The Bardsleys say their lives are "a living hell" after appearing on the Channel 4 show - and wished they had never taken part. Mark Bardsley has been offered a job as a result of the show after years out of work but he said he had no idea when he could start as the backlash from Wife Swap had made him even more depressed. The couple said they were upset by malicious letters because it was not their fault they were entitled to the cash. Lizzy said, "At the end of the day I can't reiterate enough the fact that I am not the one who decides how much I am entitled to, it's the Government. And I don't like to feel I'm being made a scapegoat for people that don't agree with Government policy."

Mark said, "I've never said I want to stay on benefits. I want to go out and work." He denied reports that he had been doing some work. The couple said they now wanted to draw a line under the show and get their lives back to normal. If ever there was a strong case for compulsory castration this must be it. But are the Bardsleys the countrys biggest scroungers? We don't know but you can bet one thing, they aren't the only ones. The disturbing fact is that most large towns and cities will have at least one family to rival them.

You can't blame these people for milking the system, the authorities are totally to blame for allowing it to happen. It's reassuring to know our taxes are being well spent and reaching those who most deserve these benefits, isn't it? Maybe if there was a limit on the number of kids a family could expect taxpayers to provide for, it would be a step in the right direction.

Lizzy Bardsley was ordered to pay back £4,879 after being found guilty of benefit fraud. She was paid £3,800 for media work while raking in £37,500 a year from four different benefits. Bardsley claimed she gave the earnings, £2,000 of which was for a topless photo shoot, to charity but magistrates said she should have known the extra cash amounted to a change in circumstances. Bardsley was ordered to pay court costs of £2,400. She was given 80 hours community service. (Source: Daily Mirror)

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