Man jailed for keeping dead mother in freezer, claiming £70k benefits

A man has been jailed for keeping his dead mother’s body in a freezer at their shared home for almost three years, during which time he received more than £70,000 of her benefits and other funds.

Christopher Phillips, 60, stored the body of Sylvia Phillips, a retired company secretary, in the chest freezer in the living room of their house in the south Wales seaside town of Porthcawl.

He regularly placed flowers on top of the freezer, which he bought two days after her death, and carried on talking to her about soap operas and horse racing.

When police arrived to check on his mother, who was 89 when she died, he told them she was away in London, but they found her body after spotting flowers on the freezer.

Phillips, a former company director, accessed his mother’s bank account, made withdrawals from her savings and pocketed benefits, Merthyr crown court heard.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the recorder of Cardiff, sentenced Phillips to two years and four months’ imprisonment.

She told him: “You continued to collect her prescriptions and misled medical professionals about her whereabouts, lying when inquiries were made about your mother, repeatedly telling medical staff that she did not wish to attend appointments or undergo tests.

“Your mother’s pension and benefits continued to be paid into her bank accounts, which you were able to access.”

Ruth Smith, defending, said Phillips had been “exceptionally close” to his mother. The pair had lived together for 50 years of his life and Phillips had been the primary carer for his mother since 2008.

Smith said the defendant had told police: “I basically didn’t want to let her go.” She added: “He described talking to her as if she was still alive … sitting next to her, talking to her about television programmes, Coronation Street, the horse racing, just as they always did.

“Mr Phillips was a vulnerable individual with a vulnerable mental health situation at the time of his mother’s death.”

The court heard Phillips had left work to become a full-time carer in the months leading up to her death in March 2023.

He was caught after police carried a welfare check because doctors had raised concerns they had not heard from his mother.

When officers attended the house in February this year, Phillips said his mother was in London with cousins. Officers pressed further but Phillips would not give the details of which cousins or where they lived.

His mother’s body was found covered with a leopard print throw and alongside it were roses and a birthday card reading “To Mum, from Christopher and Tina” – the latter being the family dog.

Phillips pleaded guilty to preventing a decent and lawful burial and two counts of fraud.

He received a total of £78,190.92 in state pension, pensions credit, attendance allowance, winter fuel payments, cost of living payments and housing benefit payments that would have ceased had his mother’s death been reported.

The senior investigating officer, DCI Claire Lamerton, said: “This is an extremely sad case where Phillips concealed his own mother’s death and financially profited for a significant period.

“My thoughts are with Sylvia’s loved ones during such a difficult time, and I hope they have found some peace having been able to properly lay her to rest.”