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Are the right wing media trying to make Heather Frost (council six-bedroom eco-home) top herself?

78 replies

sunnyO · 22/02/2013 23:53

And then what? cost the taxpayer even more by kids going into care?

It is relentless. I haven't stopped hearing about this woman and her children for ages now. There is NO way them kids are not paying the price at school. Their pictures are up!.

Heather Frost does not seem very bright and that is why the media have even been able to get interviews with her. She has been incredibly exploited.

This thread is not the rights and wrong of benefits - that has all been done. It is how the media can get away with this type of bullying of an individual. Give the woman a break! Even her Father is on it! below is his interview.



'Don't give my lazy daughter a £400,000 home.......make her get off her backside and work!' The father of notorious benefits mother speaks for Britain
Heather Frost, 37, lives in two houses which have been knocked together
Father, Roy Frost, has condemned his daughter as 'lazy'
The 72-year-old worked his whole life, including a stint in the RAF
Has seven children in one house, while the rest live with her in the other
Now Tewkesbury council has agreed to build her six-bedroom eco-home
Family own a horse and spend £200-a-month on stable fees


Heather Frost?s new ?eco-home? is, to use estate agent speak, a stunning contemporary living space in a sought-after location.
The house, which is still a few months off completion, has six bedrooms, three bathrooms and a huge living/dining area, ideal for entertaining.
The rear of the £400,000 property, near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, offers fine views over fields stretching to the Malvern Hills in the distance. Yes, there?s a railway line at the bottom of the garden, but you can?t have everything, can you?

This week, a storm broke over the house ? which is being built for her and her 11 children at taxpayers? expense ? when she coolly informed her local newspaper that the property was being built to her own specification, and that if she wasn?t happy with any aspect of the design, it would be changed accordingly.

Disappointed: Roy Frost has condemned his daughter's lifestyle as he had worked for 50 years including a stint in the RAF
Wearyingly, that is almost certainly true, for the good burghers of Tewkesbury Borough Council are bending over backwards to please 37-year-old Miss Frost, who has never done a day?s work in her life, currently occupies two council houses knocked into one (which she says is too cramped) and is quite content to let the taxpayer foot the bill for her household?s day-to-day expenses.
Indeed, so well does Miss Frost do on benefits that she treated her current partner to flying lessons and has the money for her own horse, Annie, which is ridden by her 16-year-old daughter and whose upkeep apparently costs around £200 a month.
Few people, if anyone, have come out in support of Miss Frost, who first fell pregnant when she was 14. So this week the Mail sought out her father, to seek his views.
Perhaps his daughter has been misunderstood? Is she perhaps a well-meaning woman who suffers from an overabundance of maternal feeling which has led to her having so many children by a variety of fathers ? up to five?
Not according to Royston Frost, 72, who is angry and ashamed of his daughter. Indeed, he confesses that even he doesn?t know the identity of the fathers of two of his daughter?s 11 children.
?I didn?t tell my daughter to have 11 kids,? he says. ?I tried to stop her at five, but you can?t tell someone in their 20s what to do.
?Ever since she had her first child, she hasn?t been able to work because she?s had to look after all those kids.
?She should have got off her backside and got a bloody job like the rest of us. She?s on all the benefits she can get.

Heather, 37, has had eleven children (pictured), two of which have had kids of their own.

Heather with daughters Page, 11, Till, 3 and Daisy, 5. She said that the new house will be built to her exact specifications
?Don?t get me wrong, she?s a good mum and her kids are always clean ? she just has too many of them.
?I can?t stand what she?s become. She?s lazy. I didn?t raise her to be lazy. I?m not lazy. I?ve worked all my life until retiring five years ago.
?The worst thing about the whole mess is the horse. How the hell can she afford to keep a horse when some people struggle even to put food on the table??


Family rift: Heather's (left) dad Roy Frost (right) has condemned the mother's lack of work ethic and that she continues to take from the taxpayer
Mr Frost says his daughter does not deserve the 1,850 sq foot eco-house that the council is so diligently building for her.
?They should give it to a family that really needs it,? he pronounces. ?The house she lives in at the moment is a state. I hope she respects what the council has done for her, and that she?ll look after the new house. But I know she won?t.?
Following an appearance on daytime television to defend herself, Miss Frost has been lying low at the council property where the family currently live in the village of Churchdown, Gloucestershire.

Heather gave interview on ITV's Daybreak to try and defend her actions

Heather's 16-year-old daughter Angel claims that she pays for the horse, Annie, herself

Heather's appearance on television caused an outcry across the country
Her current accommodation comprises two council houses with an adjoining door on the ground floor.
On the front drive is a battered blue Robin Reliant, with a note on the dashboard saying ?tax in post?, a motor bike, a white minibus which Miss Frost claims has been loaned to her by a friend, and a skip.
The back garden is strewn with rubbish.
Miss Frost may be a loving mother, but no one could ever accuse her of being house-proud.
When the Mail called on her, she came to the door still wearing the make-up from her appearance on Daybreak, with pink hair and missing front teeth. She declined to be interviewed, saying she?d ?had enough? of all the fuss.

Annie the horse is the latest addition to the Frost family, and costs around £200 a month to keep
There was no sign of her partner, 57-year-old James Martin (known as Jake), a jobless lorry driver who is the father of her five youngest children. He may also be the father of another child, whose paternity appears to have been under dispute (more of which later).
Heather says they are still together, but admits he does not live at the family home anymore. She told one reporter that she was married, but the Mail has been unable to find a marriage certificate.
Heather Frost was born in Cheltenham in 1975 to Royston Frost and his wife Pamela, who had two other children, Deborah, now 44, and Neil, 42. Royston spent five years in the RAF in his 20s and then worked for the next 40 years in factories around Tewkesbury.
Around the time of Heather?s birth, the couple divorced, but they remarried in 1977. They split up and divorced a second time, and Royston remarried in 2003, to a woman called Coral Allen, with whom he lives in Tewkesbury.
When she was 14, Heather fell pregnant with her first child, Sophie, with her then-boyfriend, John O?Reilly, then 23, and gave birth in July 1991. (Sophie, now 21, has a two-year-old son, Ashley).
Two years later, in August 1993, Heather gave birth to a son, Toby, now 19, whose father ? according to the child?s grandfather, Royston ? is a man called Toby Stevens. (Toby junior now has a one-year-old son of his own, Tyler.)
Three years after that, in October 1996, Heather?s 16-year-old daughter, Angel, was born. Royston Frost has no idea who Angel?s father is.
In July 1998, Heather gave birth to her second son, Jay, now 14. According to Royston Frost, Jay?s father is an ?Asian shopkeeper?, but he knows no more than that.

The council has knocked through two houses to create a larger one for the family, who have lived there for five years
Chloe, 13, arrived in February 2000. Royston Frost believes her father is John O?Reilly (the father of her first child), though on her birth certificate the father is not named.
These five children all have their mother?s surname.
A year later, in February 2001, Paige O?Reilly was born. Her name suggests the father is John O?Reilly, but her birth certificate does not name the father.
It is rumoured, in fact, that Jake Martin is Paige?s father. Indeed, last year, Miss Frost appeared on an episode of ITV?s The Jeremy Kyle show ? wouldn?t you just know Heather Frost had been on Jeremy Kyle? ? in which the paternity of one of her children was discussed.
According to birth records, Jake Martin is the father of Heather?s five youngest girls ? Emily, who turned ten on Tuesday, Bethany, eight, Ruby, seven, Daisy, five, and Tilly, three.
Royston Frost says Heather told him that Jake Martin had wanted a baby boy, which may be some sort of explanation as to why she kept having more children.
She has also said she doesn?t believe in abortion. Or contraception, clearly.

Their front garden, which holds a skip, a battered mini van, an old Robin reliant and a new car

The back of the property is strewn with rubbish and a giant trampoline for the children
The two eldest children no longer live with their mother. As well as nine children in the two adjoining properties, there is a macaw called Jake, a black Labrador called Katie, two Chihuahuas called Pebble and Teddy, a cat called Kit Kate, two guinea pigs, Bubble and Squeak, a rabbit called Eddie and three goldfish.
So that?s nine children, a mini zoo and Annie the horse in a paddock down the road.
Just how does Miss Frost afford it? Tewkesbury Borough Council declined to reveal how much money the family receives in benefits.
However, the Mail logged on to the Department of Work and Pension?s benefits entitlement calculator and entered Miss Frost?s details, such as the number of children under 20 not in work and the fact that she is a lone parent and therefore ?excused from working?.
The calculator totted up a sum of £865.92 per week owed to Miss Frost, made up of £71 income support, £526.40 child tax credit, £100 housing benefit, £27.62 council tax benefit and £140.90 child benefit.

Plans for the new £400,000 family home that heather claims she has complete control over
Over a four-week period, Miss Frost will receive £3,463.68.
Over the course of a year, that figure will give Miss Frost an annual income of £45,027.84. To generate that level of net income if Miss Frost were, perish the thought, in work, she would need a gross annual salary of £66,000.
Which explains a lot ? such as how Heather can afford a pony for Angel, although Angel claims she pays for the animal with money she earns from ?babysitting?. Is she referring to babysitting her siblings?
It may also explain how Miss Frost had the money to pay for Jake Martin to have microlight flying lessons, which cost up to £115 an hour, for Christmas one year, according to Martin?s 34-year-old daughter, Leanne, from another relationship.
For her own part, Miss Frost claims she lives modestly and limits her children to ?£100 each? at Christmas. Times that by 11. That?s £1,100 spare cash for presents, then.
Heather has been living at her two-house council home for the past five years. According to her father, one previous property the family lived in burned down.
?She already had one house that burned down, and they were lucky then,? he says. Mr Frost did not elaborate on the circumstances of the fire.

The Mail calculated that the Frost family would receive over £3000 per month in benefits, giving them an annual salary in excess of £45,000
The new eco-house, which the family is due to move into in June, has a modern, energy efficient design, and has been built using natural, locally-sourced materials. Extra-large windows will fill the house with natural light.
Miss Frost told the local paper: ?It?s being built especially for me. If I get there and I say to them I don?t like it, or it?s too small, then they will just have to build me a bigger one, won?t they??
Perhaps the vista of the Malvern Hills won?t be to her liking. Or she might decide she needs a house with a stable block for Annie.
Referring to her current accommodation, she said: ?We got this three-bed house and they knocked a doorway through to the one next door.
?It was meant to be for four months but we?ve been here for five years now. It is a nightmare because you can?t keep an eye on the children in the other house.?
Tewkesbury Borough Council came up with the idea for the eco-house after selling a plot of land in the town to Severn Vale Housing association for a discounted price of £210,000.
The condition of the sale was that one of 15 homes they were building on the site would be given to Miss Frost and her family.
But Heather?s father, for one, says she should make do with her current property.
?What they should do, is the council should properly make those two houses into one.?
Two years ago, Miss Frost was diagnosed with cervical cancer and the treatment is said to have made her sterile. ?That was a blessing in disguise, if you ask me,? says Mr Frost.
?I know it?s my daughter, and I would do anything for her, but the damage has been done. She?s got 11 children, and that can?t be undone.?
This week, the mother-of-11 defended herself, saying she?d been planning to set up her own business running a shop, but then fell ill.
She claimed she was having second thoughts about the new house. ?I?m not sure whether to take it because of all this s*.?
It?s now 50/50, she said, as to whether they will move in.
If you were to place a bet, what would you put your money on?

OP posts:
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NorthernLurker · 23/02/2013 00:01

I'm not sure repeating a hate-filled lynch mob promoting rag of a piece of 'journalism' is the way to help this unfortunate woman.

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sneezingwakesthebaby · 23/02/2013 00:03

Christ! Couldn't you have just linked to it?

I do agree though!

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CloudsAndTrees · 23/02/2013 00:05

Trying to make her top herself, or trying to point out how ridiculously generous our benefits system can be?

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andubelievedthat · 23/02/2013 00:06

The majority of people interviewed by a tabloid ,are paid >usually you will be required to sign some sort of disclaimer i.e.they can and will print what they feel is the story that will sell most copy, and you have no come back re same. most pics are likewise .What is happening re this lady"s situation is a reflection of the society we live in , the tabloids are holding a mirror up and no one enjoys the reflection ,next week it will be someone/thing else.At least J.Kyle has "specialist help" backstage(?)and old black joe ,well he just keeps pickin" cotton.

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usualsuspect · 23/02/2013 00:09

They are using her to get the benefit haters frothing that's for sure.

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GregBishopsBottomBitch · 23/02/2013 00:12

Apparently though all i needed to do to get a council property is pop out more sprogs, it seems one isnt enough, i need another 10 Hmm

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LahleeMooloo · 23/02/2013 00:12

45k in benefits? Thought they were capping them at 26k? That is pretty sickening.

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Softlysoftly · 23/02/2013 00:15

I think she's been feckless having children she can't pay for but to my mind pregnant at 14 to a 23 year old is cold abuse pure and simple. Is it any wonder when she was abused and her father hates her she turned out how she did?

So yes as a Tory supporting, benefits reducing believer even I say they should lay off the poor women and mainly stop destroying the lives and chances of the children.

Oh and andubelievedthat awesome song reference

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ReturnOfEmeraldGreen · 23/02/2013 00:15

"Times that by 11" ? Not only are the Daily Mail FUCKING BASTARDS but they employ 'journalists' and 'sub-editors' who can't write a fucking sentence. BASTARDS!

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Softlysoftly · 23/02/2013 00:16

*child not cold ffs

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usualsuspect · 23/02/2013 00:17

It's working as well.

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midastouch · 23/02/2013 00:18

Im not sure that she'd top herself, seems like shes got quite a nice life if its true! However i do feel sorry for her kids at school, its not there fault that there mother is a lazy .......

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Softlysoftly · 23/02/2013 00:19

Can you be lazy and have 11 "clean and presentable" children?

Is rather go to work!

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GregBishopsBottomBitch · 23/02/2013 00:21

Its lazy popping out 11 kids and expecting benefits to support them.

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MikeOxardAndWellard · 23/02/2013 00:21

I think they are just trying to sell newspapers. They aren't trying to do anything to the woman, they couldn't give a crap about her. It'll be someone else next week.

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GregBishopsBottomBitch · 23/02/2013 00:23

It used to be that idiot, who had a wife and gf and about 15 kids, he demanded a bigger house, i think he was on JK once.

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scottishmummy · 23/02/2013 00:32

Has she said she feels bullied or is that your opinion?who's assessed suicidality?you...
11kids and allegedly a £200 pm horse,well that's certainly a talkin point in recession
What Are you suggesting?that no one comment or speak of this in case s frost gets peeved...she hardly been circumspect she wasn't compelled to et dm et al in her home or to photograph her children.clearly she consented

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IneedAsockamnesty · 23/02/2013 00:32

How lovely that her dad said horrible things when he probably got paid £500 to do so,what a lovely parent and grand parent

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Darkesteyes · 23/02/2013 00:34

Just what i thought when i saw it Sock. Bet she had an emotionally abusive upbringing at the very least.

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RedHotRudieParts · 23/02/2013 00:42

Meh, she'll be screwed when the cap comes in and no doubt the bedroom tax will soon see off the house, don't see what all the fuss is about.

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redplasticspoon · 23/02/2013 00:49

It is pretty terrible.. but she did originally give them an interview. Why? Surely she knew that the DM would not portray a benefit claimant with 11 children in a positive light.

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Tortington · 23/02/2013 00:50

my understanding is that the current accommodation she is in is classed by her local authority to be temporary.

The local authority offered to build a house she didn't ask for it.

The questions for me here are - why is she in temporary accomodation which she has reportedly been in for 'a very long time'

The council have stated that by moving her to a new property this would free up two houses for people on the list.

the house which is being built, ( or custom built as the sun likes to put it) is being built in such a way as to turn it to two three bed properties when this woman is no longer eligible.


from what little i have gleened - i think she has 1 working 16 yo, an 18 yo, a 21 yo. she will not be recieving benefits for the 18 and 21 yo and probably not much for the 16 yo if anything. Then there is a 14 yo who might be working in as little as 18 months

moving this family means that their circumstances will change and this means the new changes to welfare reform will apply.

she will also be given a limited tenancy - dependng on the council it could be 2 years or 5 years, then it will be reviewed.

I have looked at the bedroom criteria - and the children they say are living there at the moment and i can't see how a 6 bedroom house is big enough

3 x 2 children of the same sex = 3 bedrooms
1 x teenage male = 1 bedroom
2 x different sex 16-19 classed as needing seperate bedrooms as they are adults = 2 rooms

there is no criteria for the 19 & 21 yo - so even though they are different sexes, lets opt for one bedroom - the minimum

then there is heather and her parter - 1 room

no idea where the grandchildren go.

but one of those older children is parent to the grandchildren i guess - and so are entitled to their own home - maybe they are moving out then?

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Naysa · 23/02/2013 00:57

Maybe if some one had have given this woman some help earlier in life this might not have happened.

If I was 14 and raped by a 23 man and subsequently gave birth to his child, growing up with what seems to be an EA father I don't think I would have grown up to be "normal".

Did no one think to help her before all of this happened? Did she get the help that she needed?

I feel sorry for this woman. What's done is done now. Do the media really expect a woman who has 11 children to just go out and get a job that would cover all of her costs?

Presumably she left school at 14?

How do the media expect a woman with less than GCSE grade education to get a job that pays £60000 a year?

Their time would be better spent talking about how we can prevent this happening again rather than lynching this woman.

These children can't be unborn. I just hope that one positive that comes out of this is that it won't happen again.

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Tortington · 23/02/2013 00:57

in 6 ( maybe 7) years the household will only be entitled to 3 beds, heather will be 42 and if fit for work, will be expected to do so, or receive very little in the way of support as her youngest child will then be 8

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ohyeoflittlefaith · 23/02/2013 01:07

Small detail, I know, but just to clarify, I live very close to the house that is being built for her and it does not have views of the Malverns and I can assure you that if any one of you had £400,000 to spend on property you would not spend it on that. There is a train line extremely close by and from what i can see from the road I doubt there will be much garden at all. It is not a mansion by any means in fact the small terrace of houses they are building are quite ugly.

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