Living large at taxpayers’ expense…
Daily Mail: A couple on benefits have ‘thanked’ the taxpayer after using their state handouts to pay for their £5,000 ($7,779 US) wedding. Richard Broom, 35, married his 61-year-old bride Sandra Gallagher after using the £1,900 ($2,956 US) a month they get in benefits to foot the bill for their nuptials. And now they hope that the government will also fund their luxury honeymoon to Malaysia too.
The couple, from Gillingham in Kent, who are both unemployed, tied the knot at a church before holding a reception at their local workingmen’s club in their hometown and spending their wedding night in a London hotel. After already spending £1,000 ($1,5555 US) on an engagement ring and engagement party, they spent £4,000 ($6,223 US) on their big day. This included £800 ($1,244 US) on a dress and tiara for Miss Gallagher as well as £800 on a venue and food from Iceland and £300 on a limo to take the bride to the church in Chatham.
The groom’s father David, gave his daughter-in-law away, while the couple had their first dance to the Eric Clapton hit, Wonderful Tonight.
But they also said that by marrying they had ‘done the state a favour’ as they won’t be able to claim as much in benefits. Mr. Broom told Alley Einstein for the Sunday Mirror: ‘Thanks to the taxpayer we were able to have a great day.”
‘We are lucky to have a system that allows that in the UK. We deserve a marriage or wedding bonus funded by taxpayers because when people on benefits marry they get less money. It’s something that would encourage other benefits couples to marry. We’ve saved £600 ($933 US) for our honeymoon and want the government to match it.‘
The couple first made headlines earlier this year when they appeared on the Channel 5 show Benefits: Can’t Work Won’t Work, when they revealed they hoped to have a child together. They met after Miss Gallagher started dating Mr. Broom’s uncle and she says ‘none of my exes’ have treated her like he has.
Miss Gallagher already has seven children, who she brought up on benefits, after giving up work 40 years ago due to health problems including kidney stones. She says she wants to be the oldest natural mother in the world by having an eighth baby with Mr. Broom. She told the documentary earlier this year: ‘I didn’t want any more kids before because of the people I was with, but now with Richard I don’t mind.”
‘I’d prefer to have one with him because I really care for him. ‘I didn’t think he would go with me because I’m older but he has been with another older person before me. Not quite as old as me, but I thought that’s nice, I might have a chance.’
The lucky couple…
She also revealed that she had undergone labiaplasty – commonly known as ‘designer vagina’ surgery – costing £2,500 ($3,889 US) on the NHS, which she says has improved the couple’s sex life.
Meanwhile Mr. Broom, a former road cleaner gave up work five years ago to chase his dreams of becoming an actor, and says he has traveled to London to have casting photos taken in a bid to land a job.
He said: ‘It’s my passion to become a Hollywood star or to become like Danny Dyer, to bring more money in, to help my mom out. We’re just struggling but we try to make up the payments. Mostly I play on computer, Facebook, games and stuff like that, dossing around doing nothing. I normally check Facebook every ten minutes when I’m sitting there thinking of nothing. I wouldn’t say I can’t work, because I can. I guess it’s just my laziness really.‘
More about this lovely couple in The Mirror:
But the romance hasn’t all been a bed of roses. Their wedding means their benefits will be cut. Gallagher’s ESA is already being re-assessed while their council tax allowance could also be shrunk.
The couple also admit that when they appeared on TV they received death threats and abuse. But defiant Broom said: “It’s not our fault that jobs are hard to find, but at least we’ve had the guts to tell our story. I want to become a soap star and give Sandra everything she deserves. Work is secondary to love.“
“If anything, the ESA and JSA needs increasing then benefit recipients wouldn’t be so depressed that they can’t look for work. And that’s not to mention giving out wedding bonuses which would mean cost savings for the Government in the long term. I plan to be the perfect husband and the perfect father. Sandra is the love of my life. I can’t believe she is now my wife and sex with her is awesome.”
DCG
