JUDGE TELLS MUM ON BENEFITS SHE SHOULD GET A JOB

A JUDGE has grilled a mum on benefits about why she has not got a job.

- CARL JACKSON News Reporter

Niki Francis, of Willes Road, Winson Green, was given six months to clean up her act after she shoved a man over in the street, struck him with a pole and broke his hip while she was in a drunken rage in June 2023.

Judge Dean Kershaw deferred her sentence in 2024 and warned she would go to prison if she did not.

This week, at Birmingham Crown Court, the Judge was told Francis had abstained from alcohol, engaged with probation and not re-offended since.

Judge Kershaw duly handed the 33-year-old a 22-month sentence suspended for 18 months for offences of unlawful wounding and having an offensive weapon, which she admitted.

But when the issue of whether Francis could pay prosecution costs came up, the court was told she received £1,300 a month from employment support allowance and Universal Credit.