A MAN who kept his father’s dead body for five months and claimed his benefits has been jailed.

Christopher Blackburn, of Birkby, was sentenced for three years by a judge who described his behaviour as “abhorrent”.

Police found the body of Guy Blackburn, 54, on a bed in the living room of his home in Penwortham, Lancashire, last March after neighbours raised concerns.

His son, 29, lived in the house alongside the body but kept quiet about the death of his father from natural causes.

It emerged that the defendant also kept his 10-year-old daughter in the house and lied to her that her grandfather was asleep in his room.

Blackburn, now of Norman Road, Birkby, admitted preventing a lawful and decent burial of a dead body between October 31, 2010 and March 22 last year.

He also pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to theft in taking £1,869 of income support payments he collected from the post office.

Sentencing him at Preston Crown Court, the Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell, said: “Such offending is abhorrent to all decent-minded people who will be disgusted by your behaviour.

“It was callous and offensive to his (Guy Blackburn’s) friends and family who no doubt have been caused considerable distress by these circumstances.

“It also seems to me that you were motivated in part by greed.”

Judge Russell told him: “You pretended he was still alive, misleading others – particularly your own daughter, a little girl.”

The court heard Blackburn carried on collecting fortnightly income support payments and spent the money largely on himself.

He put a deposit down for a laptop, pairs of trainers and alcohol.

Kirsten McAteer, prosecuting, said the defendant had moved into his father’s house after he separated from his girlfriend and the mother of his child.

He lived upstairs while his father slept downstairs.

Guy Blackburn fell out with family members when he became upset after they helped the defendant clean the house while he was admitted to hospital in late September 2010.

The prosecutor said the defendant’s ex-girlfriend recalled that Blackburn initially made excuses for their daughter not to stay over at the house.

She visited the address herself in November 2010 and noticed there were a lot of air fresheners upstairs and remembered holding her nose because of the smell, Miss McAteer said.

Her daughter’s visits continued but in February last year she told her that “grandad was dead”.

“She simply had no reason to believe there was any truth in what her daughter was saying,” she said. “It seems that the girl had told other children that ‘grandad was dead’.

“It appears she later told her mother that the defendant had told her that grandfather was asleep.”

During this period, Blackburn had met a new woman and was living on and off with her in Huddersfield.

Miss McAteer said it was “immediately apparent” he had been dead for “some considerable time” when police called. Air fresheners and face masks were found in the upstairs bedroom.

A post-mortem ruled out any foul play, with heart disease the cause of death.

It was estimated he probably died on or around November 3 last year.

Daniel King, defending, said his client had his own drink problems and had suffered depression after losing a son to cot death. His ex-girlfriend had also miscarried twice.

“Perhaps one of the most distressing features of this case was the repeated visits of his daughter to the house and that she was aware that something was wrong with her grandfather,” he said.

“He has been alienated from his family and his daughter and has had no contact with her since.”

Blackburn was sentenced to four months in jail, to run concurrently, for the benefit fraud.