An unemployed man who had not eaten for three days set fire to a job centre in order to get a hot meal in police custody, according to the Manchester Evening News.
An unemployed man who had not eaten for three days because his benefits had been stopped set fire to a job centre in order to get a hot meal in police custody, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Bee O’Brien, 49, set fire to the customer telephones at a jobcentre in Moss side after a row about his benefits.
O’Brien told police he would “commit a crime and get arrested. I need some food”.
According to the Evening News:
‘O’Brien, of Camelford Close, Hulme, admitted criminal damage, attempted arson, and using threatening words and behaviour when he appeared before Manchester magistrates.
Gina Clayton, defending, said: “His benefits had been stopped for some reason and he hadn’t eaten for three days. He was simply desperate for some food. He went to the job centre to get his payments and lost his temper.
“He was aware that if he was arrested he would have been given food at the police station.”’
O’Brien was given a 12 month community order and ordered to do 40 hours unpaid work.
Last month a disabled man took his own life after worrying about how he would manage once his benefits were stopped.
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128 Responses to “Tory Britain: Man sets fire to job centre after not eating for three days”
David O Rourke
Very true and well done you.. Its not that even people who work are now feeling the pain for unemployed people Well this ones with a heart How many pensioners will be scared in there own homes soon All the government are doing is saying i don’t want to deal with them This maybe good for people who work and think Haha but to be fair there is some crazy people in job-centers and they will need income from other places Old people will be targeted shops decent people in the street What i don’t get why would anyone think the tories are smart people ? They have no clue how to run anything They will go in 2015 everyone should just stop listening to them just now What they going to do come chap your door there self ? They don’t have the balls face to face Its all done in the background Cowards the lot of them I certainly would not mind standing face to face with anyone of them Would make a good news report am sure of it It would also make me famous
Logic
you obviously have never been in tough times with no one to turn to,your perspective has no idea
we are all equal
what is it you expected the public sector worker to do? it wasn’t the worker in the job center that did this it was the coalition government.
just as they are using scare tactics regarding the nhs so that no one is that bothered when it is turned into an american profit making organisation or managing to, through the back door, privatise the education system. quiet and back door selling of the probation service to the likes of G4 because we know how well they managed the olympics or creating an underclass and deserving and undeserving poor system by telling people who are dying of cancer to go to work. so perhaps rather than having a go at the people who work in the job center you should focus your efforts on challenging the government. I have been in this mans position so please don’t think i don’t get I certainly do but i challenge the government policies go on marches donate money and food as much as i can spare whilst working but your frustration is miss guided focus on the problem not on the poor person behind the counter who works in the job to feed their own family.
julie
Fucking disgusting. No-one in this day and age should ever have to go hungry and especially in Britain!! And I really feel for the poor disabled man who took his own life coz his benefits had stopped. Wake up Britain man!!!
Mark
no matter why his benefits was stopped they should not leave anyone without enough food, what IDS Cameron DWP and the JCP are doing is totally wrong and i believe they all should be held to account in front of the court of human rights for crimes against the poor sick disabled and unemployed has they are more willing to see men woman children go hungry so what right have they it was the banks that coursed the problem yet not one has been taken to court yet this government has set out to make the poor sick and disabled plus the unemployed out to be nothing more than fraudster yet only 0.01% of the welfare budget is fraud so please let make this government at least give enough money to feed themselves