Benefit cheat mother's relief at avoiding jail

The pregnant wife of Britain's oldest dad of twins today spoke out after admitting cheating the benefits system out of almost £7,000.

Lisa Roden, who is 45 years younger than her 71-year-old husband, said she was relieved not to be going to prison as she had three young children to take care of, and another on the way in eight weeks.

Mrs Roden and her father-of-12 husband Richard, of Peake Crescent, Brownhills, said they were not out to cheat the system and there had been a "miscommunication" with Walsall Council and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mrs Roden, aged 26, and who has twins with her husband as well as a daughter from a previous relationship, said: "I'm just happy I'm not going to prison.

"I tried to notify them to tell them I was married and to show our current situation but apparently they never received the letters or have a record of the phone calls I made. I thought it was sorted until I got all this paperwork through from the courts, including the charges. It was all just a miscommunication. We're not trying to fiddle the system whatsoever. It was just a mistake."

Her former welder husband, who has been married twice before, added: "We are not cheats. I've worked hard all my life. Lisa is a good person, that is why I married her. She is not trying to beat the system."

The couple's baby is due in eight weeks and they have decided to call her Madison. But Mrs Roden said her latest addition will be the last.

"It was a planned pregnancy. We wanted a baby boy, and I conceived in April," she said. "And now our latest is due a day before our twins' birthday on January 29."

The couple managed to conceive despite Richard suffering from bladder cancer.

"They give me strength and I get so much pleasure out of watching them. At my age, they have put a new life into me," he said.

Mrs Roden appeared at Walsall Magistrates' Court on Monday, when she admitted two counts of failing to notify authorities of a change in circumstances after she was overpaid a total of £6,901.58 between February 2009 and January 2010.

The authorities, who had been paying someone they believed was a single mother, picked up on her case after the couple hit national headlines when their twin daughters Emily and Ruby were born.