Welsh man kept mother's body in freezer for 3 years to claim benefits, jailed for 28 months

A 60-year-old Welsh man has been sentenced to 28 months in prison after keeping his 89-year-old adoptive mother's body in a chest freezer for nearly three years while fraudulently claiming more than £78,000 (about HK$820,000) in benefits.

Christopher Phillips pleaded guilty to preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body and two counts of fraud. His mother Sylvia Phillips died on March 8, 2023, at their home in Porthcawl, South Wales. Phillips did not report her death and bought a large chest freezer two days later, storing the body in the dining room covered with a leopard-print blanket.

The fraud was uncovered in February when healthcare workers, who had not seen Sylvia since 2022, alerted police. Officers found the freezer with flowers on top, and inside lay the body with a birthday card reading: "To Mum, from Christopher and Tina."

Phillips continued to collect his mother's state pension and other benefits, using some of the money to pay off credit card bills and household debts. He also collected her prescription medication and lied to healthcare workers about her whereabouts.

Defence lawyers said Phillips had an "exceptionally close" relationship with his adoptive mother and was unable to accept her death, continuing to talk to her as if she were alive. The judge described the storage of the body in the freezer for nearly three years as a "significant indignity" and noted the case was aggravated by the financial gain.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓