Benefits fraudster kept mother's dead body in freezer to pocket £80k of her benefits

A 60-year-old man from Porthcawl who stored his deceased mother's body in a chest freezer for close to three years while continuing to draw her state pension and benefits has been jailed for two years and four months.

Christopher Phillips was sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court after admitting three charges, among them the failure to lawfully and decently bury his mother Sylvia Phillips, 89, and the fraudulent collection of her financial entitlements.

The elderly woman died in March 2023, but her son never reported her passing to the authorities.

Over the period of concealment, Phillips accumulated £78,190.92 through her state pension, pension credit, attendance allowance, winter fuel payments, cost-of-living payments and housing benefit — all of which would have stopped had her death been disclosed.

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Officers discovered Sylvia Phillips's remains during a welfare check at the family's semi-detached home on Poplar Crescent, Porthcawl, in February, acting on a request from her GP surgery.

Her body was wrapped in a leopard-print silk blanket, adorned with yellow and pink roses, alongside a birthday card reading: "To Mum, from Christopher and Tina" — Tina being the family dog.

The local medical practice had tried on multiple occasions to reach Sylvia but was repeatedly blocked by her son, the court heard.

When officers arrived, Phillips claimed his mother had relocated to London and was unwilling to undergo medical examinations.

Police grew suspicious after noticing him trembling and fidgeting.

He then rushed upstairs, where he was overheard phoning a girlfriend, saying: "Police are going to arrest me, you've got the will."

Phillips had been adopted by Sylvia at the age of two, and the court heard the pair were "exceptionally close" and "somewhat isolated" from others.

He had served as her sole carer since 2008 and left his job towards the end of 2022 as her health deteriorated further.

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Sylvia had attended 26 GP appointments in 2021, dropping to six the following year. Her final visit to A&E took place on September 24, 2022, with a home visit from her doctor two days later.

After that, there was no further contact, though her son kept collecting her prescriptions.

She died on March 8, 2023. The following day, Phillips held her in his arms and promised to look after her, the court was told.

Just two days after her death, he ordered a chest freezer from AO.com and placed it in the dining room.

Phillips relocated his sleeping arrangements to the ground floor so he could rest beside the freezer containing his mother's body.

The court heard he would periodically lift the lid and hold her hand.

His defence barrister Ruth Smith told the court that Phillips had informed police: "I basically didn't want to let her go."

Smith described how her client would sit with his mother and chat to her as though she were still alive, discussing television programmes such as Coronation Street and the horse racing, "just as they always did."

She characterised Phillips as a "vulnerable individual" experiencing "extreme grief," telling the court he had displayed a "lack of acceptance" regarding Sylvia's death and "had almost created a false narrative that she was still alive".

Phillips wept in the dock as his lawyer spoke.

Judge Lloyd-Clarke told Phillips he had "deliberately concealed" his mother's death and "took steps to give the impression that she was still alive."

"You continued to collect her prescription and lied to medical professionals and eventually the police," the judge said.

She noted that rather than informing the authorities and arranging a proper burial, Phillips had purchased the freezer on 10 March and hidden Sylvia's body inside it.

Because the 89-year-old had been completely frozen, a considerable delay followed before a post-mortem examination could take place.

The pathologist was ultimately unable to determine a cause of death, though the circumstances were not considered suspicious.

The judge indicated that a timetable for confiscation proceedings to recover the fraudulently obtained funds would be set in due course.

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