A man who kept the body of his elderly mother in a chest freezer inside their family home for almost three years while continuing to collect more than £78,000 in her pension and state benefits has been jailed.
Christopher Phillips, 60, was sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court to two years and four months in prison after admitting preventing the lawful and decent burial of his mother, Sylvia Phillips, and dishonestly failing to report her death while continuing to receive payments that should have stopped.
The court heard that Sylvia Phillips died on 8 March 2023 at the age of 89. Instead of informing the authorities, Phillips bought a large chest freezer two days later and placed her body inside it at their semi detached home on Poplar Crescent in Porthcawl, Bridgend County.
Her body remained hidden there until February this year when South Wales Police officers carried out a welfare check after concerns were raised by her GP surgery, which had repeatedly tried to contact her following missed appointments and unsuccessful welfare enquiries.
When officers arrived, Phillips claimed his mother had moved to London and no longer wished to undergo medical tests. Police quickly became suspicious after noticing his nervous behaviour. According to evidence heard in court, Phillips appeared to tremble and fidget before running upstairs, where officers overheard him telling his girlfriend on the telephone, “The police are going to arrest me. You’ve got the will.”
Officers eventually opened the freezer and discovered Sylvia Phillips wrapped carefully in a leopard print silk blanket with yellow and pink roses laid beside her. A birthday card addressed to “Mum” and signed by Christopher and the family dog, Tina, was also found with her remains.
Because the body had been frozen for such a prolonged period, forensic specialists required additional time before carrying out a post mortem examination. Pathologists were ultimately unable to determine the precise cause of death because of the condition of the remains, although investigators confirmed there was no evidence to suggest suspicious circumstances or physical violence.
The court heard the pair shared an exceptionally close relationship. Phillips had been adopted by Sylvia when he was two years old and had been her full time carer since 2008 after leaving employment as her health deteriorated.
Defence barrister Ruth Smith said her client was overwhelmed by grief and struggled to accept his mother’s death. She told the court Phillips had admitted, “I basically did not want to let her go.”
She said he continued to sit beside the freezer, speaking to his mother as though she were still alive about familiar subjects including television programmes, Coronation Street and horse racing. On occasions, he would open the freezer simply to hold her hand.
Despite his grief, prosecutors said Phillips deliberately concealed the death while continuing to collect financial support that should have ceased immediately after Sylvia died. Over the next three years he received £78,190.92 through her State Pension, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Housing Benefit, Winter Fuel Payments and Cost of Living Payments.
The court also heard Phillips continued collecting his mother’s prescriptions and repeatedly misled medical professionals. Records showed Sylvia attended 26 GP appointments during 2021 and six more in 2022 before all contact stopped. When the practice attempted to arrange further reviews and blood tests, Phillips claimed she did not wish to attend.
Sentencing him, Judge Vanessa Lloyd Clarke said Phillips had deliberately hidden his mother’s death from authorities and taken calculated steps to maintain the deception.
“You deliberately concealed your mother’s death and took steps to create the impression she was still alive,” the judge said.
“You continued to collect her prescriptions and repeatedly lied to medical professionals and eventually to the police. Rather than notifying the authorities and arranging for her lawful burial, you purchased a chest freezer and concealed her body within it.”
The judge accepted Phillips had experienced profound grief but ruled that his actions amounted to a sustained course of deception involving public funds over several years. Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are expected to follow to recover money obtained through the fraudulent benefit claims.
