{"id":366991,"date":"2026-08-03T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/this-man-claimed-78000-of-his-mums-benefits-while-she-lay-dead-in-his-freezer\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T22:00:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:00:27","slug":"this-man-claimed-78000-of-his-mums-benefits-while-she-lay-dead-in-his-freezer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsisc.com\/videos\/this-man-claimed-78000-of-his-mums-benefits-while-she-lay-dead-in-his-freezer\/","title":{"rendered":"This man claimed \u00a378,000 of his mum&#8217;s benefits while she lay dead in his freezer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.ytimg.com\/vi\/qvJ2C-V7uLw\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"This man claimed \u00a378,000 of his mum's benefits while she lay dead in his freezer\"><br \/> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qvJ2C-V7uLw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>A man has been jailed after keeping his dead mother in a freezer for nearly three years whilst claiming benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Phillips, 60, from Porthcawl, previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body, and to fraud by false representation.<\/p>\n<p>The body of his mother, Sylvia Phillips, 89, was found in a chest freezer at the home they shared in Porthcawl on 17 February.<\/p>\n<p>Merthyr Crown Court heard how police were asked to carry out a welfare check on Ms Phillips at her home in Porthcawl in February, after her GP became concerned about her.<\/p>\n<p>Phillips told officers that his mother had moved to London and he did not know her precise address. But when police searched the property, they found her body in a chest freezer in the dining room.<\/p>\n<p>The court was told that between the time of his mother\u2019s death and the discovery of her body, a total of \u00a378,190.92 was paid into her bank account.<\/p>\n<p>This was a combination of pension, attendance allowance, winter fuel and cost of living payments paid by the Department for Work and Pensions, and Housing Benefit paid by Bridgend County Borough Council.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard Phillips used the money to pay off a credit card bill and household debts at the property he shared with his mother.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the court, defence barrister Ruth Smith said Phillips had previously been a \u201cproductive member of society\u201d but had given up work in 2022 to provide full time care for his mother, to whom he was \u201cexceptionally\u201d close.<\/p>\n<p>She said Phillips told a psychiatrist that when his mother died he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to let her go\u201d, and spent a day holding her hand and telling her he would look after her.<\/p>\n<p>He later began sleeping in the same room as the freezer in order, Ms Smith said, to be close to the body.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard the body was covered with a leopard print throw and found alongside roses and a birthday card, reading, \u201cTo Mum, from Christopher and Tina\u201d, a reference to the family dog.<\/p>\n<p>The court was also told how Phillips had been described as a \u201cvulnerable\u201d individual and was diagnosed with \u201cprolonged grief disorder\u201d by an expert.<\/p>\n<p>The defendant bowed his head and wept as details of the offending were read out to the court.<\/p>\n<p>Sentencing him to two years and four months in prison, judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told him he would have to spend 40% of his sentence behind bars with the remainder to be served on licence.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http:\/\/bit.ly\/2lOHmNj<br \/>\n\u2022 Get breaking news and more stories at http:\/\/www.itv.com\/news<\/p>\n<p>Follow ITV News on TikTok https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@itvnews?lang=en<br \/>\nFollow ITV News on Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/itvnews\/<br \/>\nFollow ITV News on Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/itvnews\/<br \/>\nFollow ITV News on X: https:\/\/twitter.com\/itvnews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man has been jailed after keeping his dead mother in a freezer for nearly three years whilst claiming benefits. Christopher Phillips, 60, from Porthcawl, previously pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body, and to fraud by false representation. The body of his mother, Sylvia Phillips, 89, was found [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128812],"tags":[],"actors":[],"class_list":["post-366991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-itv-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This man claimed \u00a378,000 of his mum&#039;s benefits while she lay dead in his freezer | News ISC Videos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch This man claimed \u00a378,000 of his mum&#039;s benefits while she lay dead in his freezer for free, here on News ISC. 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