Son kept Dead father's body in bed for five months so he could claim his benefits

[arista]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/03/14/article-0-1229F414000005DC-64_233x479.jpg

"Christopher Blackburn claimed £2,000 while living with the emaciated corpse
Told police he had had a drink with his father at Christmas
Neighbours thought he was caring for his sick parent"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114891/Christopher-Blackburn-kept-fathers-body-bed-5-months-claim-benefits.html#ixzz1pBgEgW2j


Utter Criminal Scum

[Niamh.]

Oh God, that's gruesome, the smell must have been awful, I'm surprised that wasn't noticed sooner

[lostalex]

Well i've heard of people doing much worse for much smaller amounts of money.

you can hire crackheads to kill for only a few hundred.

[Livia]

I saw this on the news last night. He told his little girl that her grandfather was sleeping.

[lostalex]

I saw this on the news last night. He told his little girl that her grandfather was sleeping.

awww, that's kinda sweet. in a twisted way...

[Niamh.]

awww, that's kinda sweet. in a twisted way...

It isn't really :shocked:

[lostalex]

It isn't really :shocked:

i guess i'm just a bit of a romantic then... :(

[Niamh.]

i guess i'm just a bit of a romantic then... :(

:laugh:

[Mrluvaluva]

To me, he had no respect for his father, and used him in death to claim money. Neighbours were sending meals for his "sick" dad. It has made a lot of people in his community very angry.

[fruit_cake]

considering his daughter was 10 years old I wonder if she'd have been at least a little suspicious that he was actually dead and not sleeping.

[thesheriff443]

i wonder if he thought about putting his dads,bed on ebay,

[Niamh.]

considering his daughter was 10 years old I wonder if she'd have been at least a little suspicious that he was actually dead and not sleeping.

The smell must have been terrible, she surely must have been suspicious

[Niamh.]

Can we try and stay on topic please and stop with the personal snipes.

[lostalex]

someone is heavily moderating this thread, hmmm, i wonder who.... ;)

[Jesus.]

Why have I had a post removed from this thread?

[Roy Mars III]

looks the type

[lostalex]

Why have I had a post removed from this thread?

because you broke the rules, that would be the obvious answer...

[Niamh.]

Why have I had a post removed from this thread?

Is that not obvious Mr. Christ? :suspect:

[thesheriff443]

dissapointed!

[Jesus.]

Is that not obvious Mr. Christ? :suspect:

Errrrrrrr, not really. Arista would be disappointed if I didn't point out such things in his threads. :dance:

[thesheriff443]

free thinkers are not welcome on here so im off,boreing!

[Roy Mars III]

about time

[Niamh.]

Errrrrrrr, not really. Arista would be disappointed if I didn't point out such things in his threads. :dance:

:nono:

[Marc]

Wow.

I'm glad that these people exist ONLY FOR THE SOLE REASON that it brings it to my attention that I am a much better person, who would never do such a thing.

[Jesus.]

Anyone who continues to live with a decomposing corpse, obviously has severe mental health issues, that can't solely be dressed up as "greedy scum".

Maybe we should be looking to help this guy, rather than castigate him so badly. He's had £2,000 he wasn't entitled to from the government. Not even a weeks tax dodging for the wealthiest.

[Mrluvaluva]

Anyone who continues to live with a decomposing corpse, obviously has severe mental health issues, that can't solely be dressed up as "greedy scum".

Maybe we should be looking to help this guy, rather than castigate him so badly. He's had £2,000 he wasn't entitled to from the government. Not even a weeks tax dodging for the wealthiest.

It's not particularly about the money though as such. It's not a huge amount I agree (although where do you draw the line?), but it was over the period of only a few months, although I don't think he could have carried on covering up the fact that his father was dead for much longer anyhow.

It's the fact that he used his father, in death, to obtain monies for possible personal gain. "He failed to report 54-year-old Guy's death so he could splash his £180 fortnightly income support state benefit on trainers and booze.", The Sun states. I don't know if this notion was in his head at the time of his fathers passing, which was the reason for him keeping the death quiet, or whether it was an afterthought, and the reason he did not originally report this came from grief, and he became scared because, basically, the lie got too big, so he collected the money to make things look normal . I can't possibly comment on that. I don't know what was going on in his head.

It's an issue of respect for somebody. Denying them the right to be laid to rest and for others to grieve. And it's the fact he used the money for purely selfish reasons. No other reason than to make things easier for himself. I am not sure how he could be "helped"?

[fruit_cake]

Anyone who continues to live with a decomposing corpse, obviously has severe mental health issues, that can't solely be dressed up as "greedy scum".

Maybe we should be looking to help this guy, rather than castigate him so badly. He's had £2,000 he wasn't entitled to from the government. Not even a weeks tax dodging for the wealthiest.

I don't agree we should be helping him but I do agree that this kind of fraud probably pales into complete insignificance when compared to the rich and the fraud they get away with.

[arista]

To me, he had no respect for his father, and used him in death to claim money. Neighbours were sending meals for his "sick" dad. It has made a lot of people in his community very angry.


Yes its so wrong
all to cash in his benefits.

[arista]

Errrrrrrr, not really. Arista would be disappointed if I didn't point out such things in his threads. :dance:


But I agree
with Mods who have a job to do , here

[Jesus.]

It's not particularly about the money though as such. It's not a huge amount I agree (although where do you draw the line?), but it was over the period of only a few months, although I don't think he could have carried on covering up the fact that his father was dead for much longer anyhow.

It's the fact that he used his father, in death, to obtain monies for possible personal gain. "He failed to report 54-year-old Guy's death so he could splash his £180 fortnightly income support state benefit on trainers and booze.", The Sun states. I don't know if this notion was in his head at the time of his fathers passing, which was the reason for him keeping the death quiet, or whether it was an afterthought, and the reason he did not originally report this came from grief, and he became scared because, basically, the lie got too big, so he collected the money to make things look normal . I can't possibly comment on that. I don't know what was going on in his head.

It's an issue of respect for somebody. Denying them the right to be laid to rest and for others to grieve. And it's the fact he used the money for purely selfish reasons. No other reason than to make things easier for himself. I am not sure how he could be "helped"?

So a rag that has a history of telling lies and besmirching the names of people for stories, says he was drinking the money and buying trainers? That sounds sensationalist to me.

He deserves punishment for what he did, and he will receive it. But he obviously has mental health issues, thrown in to the mix, that need to be addressed.

I'm not advocating we write him £2000 cheques every month so he can buy all the trainers/booze he wants, but locking him up for a few months and releasing him without treatment, may just create further problems for society further down the road, that may cost more government money, or maybe even someones life?

[fruit_cake]

So a rag that has a history of telling lies and besmirching the names of people for stories, says he was drinking the money and buying trainers? That sounds sensationalist to me.

He deserves punishment for what he did, and he will receive it. But he obviously has mental health issues, thrown in to the mix, that need to be addressed.

I'm not advocating we write him £2000 cheques every month so he can buy all the trainers/booze he wants, but locking him up for a few months and releasing him without treatment, may just create further problems for society further down the road, that may cost more government money, or maybe even someones life?

praise the lord

[Mrluvaluva]

So a rag that has a history of telling lies and besmirching the names of people for stories, says he was drinking the money and buying trainers? That sounds sensationalist to me.

He deserves punishment for what he did, and he will receive it. But he obviously has mental health issues, thrown in to the mix, that need to be addressed.

I'm not advocating we write him £2000 cheques every month so he can buy all the trainers/booze he wants, but locking him up for a few months and releasing him without treatment, may just create further problems for society further down the road, that may cost more government money, or maybe even someones life?


The quote was merely used as an example.

The judge said ""It also seems to me that you were motivated in part by greed. A decent person would have immediately admitted to the police that this poor man had died months before but you tried to pretend he had been dead for only days." - BBC.

“This was the deliberate and sustained concealment of a death over a long period of time, simply for personal financial gain it would seem. There is no knowing how long Christopher Blackburn would have continued to conceal his father’s death if a neighbour had not raised her concerns with the housing association. Even after arrest, when faced with clear evidence, Christopher Blackburn continued to deny in interviews any knowledge of his father’s death before the police discovered the body." - CPS statement.

I am aware he has mental health issues, and other problems such as alcohol addiction. I also understand that you are not trivialising the amount of money involved, I somewhat agree, but I am sure if he could have carried out this pretense for much longer, the amounts involved would have considerably different. It was only because he was found out after a few months the amount was relatively small. Where do we draw the line? £2,000? £20,000?

It's a concious decision he made, and not one the majority of people could have followed through. Like most people know right from wrong basically. I just cannot see how people like this can be helped, as such?

[joeysteele]

I think this is all really very sick indeed and as others said the stench must have been awful after so many months.

I actually find it worse that he kept the man decomposing and lied to his daughter rather than the collecting benefits bit.

[lostalex]

I think a remember on BBC last year about an Indian or Chinese family that was caught doing this same sort of thing for like 7 years. Much much longer, i'll try to find it. I definitely remember reading about it though. I'm pretty sure it was in China.

[arista]

I think this is all really very sick indeed and as others said the stench must have been awful after so many months.

I actually find it worse that he kept the man decomposing and lied to his daughter rather than the collecting benefits bit.


Yes Very Wrong

[King Gizzard]

Anyone who continues to live with a decomposing corpse, obviously has severe mental health issues, that can't solely be dressed up as "greedy scum".

Maybe we should be looking to help this guy, rather than castigate him so badly. He's had £2,000 he wasn't entitled to from the government. Not even a weeks tax dodging for the wealthiest.

100% this

[waterhog]

you could not make this up - you could not even make a film about it ? its hurendoussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssss

[Mystic Mock]

Well i've heard of people doing much worse for much smaller amounts of money.

you can hire crackheads to kill for only a few hundred.

How do you know this? are you planning on hiring a crackhead to kill someone?:shocked::joker:

In all seriousness though I honestly think that's disgusting and the Son should be ashamed of himself.

[Ramsay]

smart fella.

[arista]

smart fella.


No the Smell
he ain't smart