Reform MP defends helping UK’s ‘worst benefits cheat’ who was jailed for fraud
A Reform MP has defended the actions of a woman once dubbed Britain’s ‘worst aid cheat’ after she posted a video boasting about the aid she received from Nigel Farage’s party.
On Wednesday, Sarah Pochin, who was elected by winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-elections in previous years, published a video of Ethel McGill, 76, titled “Helping people like Ethel is why I love my job.”
In the footage, Ms McGill says that within two days of speaking to Reform UK she “got the help I needed” and eventually moved into an adapted two-bedroom bungalow.
But the clip was deleted just hours after it was published and Ms Pochin was forced to respond after LBC revealed Ms McGill was an amateur actress whom it once called ‘Britain’s worst benefits cheat’. Mirror after being imprisoned for fraud.
Miss McGill was jailed after hiding her father’s death to get a £740,000 kickback. He continued to receive war pensions and benefits after the death of his father, Robert Dennison, in 2004.
He also feigned dementia and claimed he needed a wheelchair, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
Ms McGill admitted fraud and was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison in 2019.
Judge Steven Everett told him at the time: “Part of your problem is that no one, including me, believes you’re sick, and you’ve been wearing it for years.”
She accused him of “breathtaking dishonesty” and said he had “tarnished” his father’s name “over the years”.
In a statement posted on her former Twitter account, X, Ms Pochin defended her party’s stance on benefit fraud.
He said: “As an MP, I have to take people on their merits. My office does not conduct background checks on voters who come to support us. The issues my office helped with were completely unrelated to this crime.”
“Reform UK firmly opposes benefits fraud and abuse of the system. But a responsible MP must consider each case on its merits and support constituents who seek help.”
Ms Pochin told LBC she was “trying to be a hard-working local MP and I am ready to help anyone who asks for my help in Runcorn and Helsby”.
He added: “My default is to trust voters who are asking for help.”
It comes after Nigel Farage promised the biggest welfare bill cuts in British history if his party wins the next general election.
In April, Mr Farage said he would retain the triple lock for the state pension and fund it with “the biggest cuts to benefits ever seen in this country”.
