Mother of nine, who is living on UK govt handouts, is pregnant yet again, this time with twins
Kent: A mother-of-nine who claims £38,000 a year in handouts and demanded a bigger council house for her huge family is pregnant again — this time with twins. Cheryl Prudham, 32, and her husband Robert, 29, are set to receive at least a further £1,400 in handouts when the baby girls arrive.
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Cheryl said she will ‘not be made to feel guilty’ for having children’ as she and her husband both work part-time. Last year the couple, from Sittingbourne, Kent — who were living in a three-bedroom council house at the time said they were entitled to a bigger house, because they both work part-time.
They moved to a £200,000 property, also in Kent, but did not like it. She admits her huge brood were not especially planned because she and her husband do not like contraception. Speaking after her bid for a new house last year, she said: ‘In the past I have been on contraception but I got pregnant with the coil and the pill just doesn’t settle well with me.
‘We don’t use condoms and me and Rob have never talked about it. ‘I did rely on benefits before but I am motivated to be more than a mother.’ And she admitted: ‘I was surprised by the cost of our kids in the end.’
Cheryl had her first son George, 13, when she was just 17 and was living in a homeless hostel in Kent in 2000. She soon moved into a flat with her ex-boyfriend and had second son, Jack, 12, and her eldest daughter Caitlin, eight. The mother then had three unplanned pregnancies.
She revealed that in her old house her children, who are aged between nine months and 13, sat on the floor to eat at meal times because there is not enough space for a dining table. In 2009 she met current husband Rob and they had Leon, now three. They then had Lenny, now two, and then Lainey this year, before she discovered she was pregnant with the twins.
The couple recently started working 20 hours per week as carers. Neither pays any income tax because their earnings fall below the minimum threshold, earning them just under £1,400 a month. They then receive £400 child tax credits, topped up by £70 working tax credits, and their £123 a week rent is footed by the council. They already reportedly receive £7,326 a year in child benefits.