Criminals in secure hospitals reap cold weather benefits as ‘patients’ By Charles Hymas Home Affairs editor

DANGEROUS criminals being treated in secure hospitals rather than held in prison are getting cold weather payments at the expense of the taxpayer.

They are entitled to the payments as part of the benefits package which they can get by being treated as “patients” in secure psychiatric hospitals under “restricted” conditions rather than being sent to prison. The payments are worth £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather – at least zero degrees celsius – and are awarded based on the temperatures in the postcode where they are living even if it is a secure hospital with central heating.

The disclosure comes after The Telegraph revealed that triple killer Valdo Calocane will be entitled to claim thousands of pounds in benefits a year after being sent to Ashworth high security hospital in Merseyside rather than being jailed.

It subsequently emerged that up to 2,700 killers, sex offenders and other violent criminals are receiving benefits because they have been sent to secure hospitals rather than prison.

Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, is understood to be urgently reviewing Calocane’s case and the wider entitlement of offenders to benefits in secure hospitals. The latest payments were revealed by a longstanding staff member at a medium secure mental health unit who said that convicted criminals being treated were “in receipt of universal credit and some are getting PIP (Personal Independence Payment) and most recently cold weather payments and help with living costs.

“Patients get four hot meals a day, have no bills to pay and also get money from the hospital for therapeutic reasons for cooking sessions. Some patients have disposable incomes of £800 a month. Some [get] more than this which is paid direct into hospital finances or into their private bank account. Many patients don’t have budgeting skills and spend the money as soon as they get it. Some accumulate thousands [of pounds]. Some patients have a host of tech gadgets in their rooms and now they can have access to mobiles, smart phones and expensive trainers.” Julian Hendy, founder of the

Hundred Families charity, which supports families in mental health-related killings, said: “This just seems to go from bad to worse. How can cold weather payments be possibly justified for serious offenders detained in psychiatric hospitals?”

A government spokesman said: “Entitlement to benefit is, by law, dependent on sentences handed out, and the Work and Pensions Secretary is looking at the specifics of this case.”