Man left dead father in bed to claim benefits

A man who did not report the death of his father for nearly five months and claimed his benefit payments has been jailed for three years.

Police found the body of Guy Blackburn, 54, on a bed in the living room of his home in Penwortham, Lancashire, last March after neighbours raised concerns.

His son, Christopher, 29, had been living at the house alongside the body but kept quiet about the death of his father from heart disease. The defendant told his 10-year-old daughter that her grandfather was asleep in his room.

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Blackburn, now of Norman Road, Birkby, Huddersfield, admitted preventing a lawful and decent burial of a dead body between October 31, 2010 and March 22 last year. He also pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to theft in pocketing £1,869 of income support payments.

Sentencing him at Preston Crown Court, the Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell, said: “Such offending is abhorrent to all decent-minded people who will be disgusted by your behaviour.”

Kirsten McAteer, prosecuting, said the defendant had moved into his father’s house after he separated from his girlfriend and the mother of his child. He was the main carer for his father who had health problems because of alcohol abuse.

During this period, Blackburn had met a new woman and was living on and off with her in Huddersfield, the court heard.