Stephen Nott, 61, of North Shields, England, was handed a suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court on November 6 after pleading guilty to burglary. The court heard that he has 30 previous convictions for 69 offenses, including a three-month community order for sexual activity with a child, and that he claims £3,000 a month in Universal Credit benefits. He later told The Daily Mail he also gets £750 a month in Personal Independence Payment benefits and donates £100 a month to the Labour Party.
Nott was sentenced to a nine-month prison sentence—suspended for 12 months, meaning he will serve no time in custody unless he commits further crimes within the next year—for burgling a family’s retirement holiday flat. A Chronicle Live sentencing report said the owners did not live there but visited regularly. The owner’s son found the property in order on October 1, 2025, but when he returned on December 27, the locks had been changed and Nott was inside.
Prosecutor Laura Peto told the court that Nott “presented himself in a threatening manner and was shouting he was going to complete a hostile takeover.” On arrest, he told police: “It’s not burglary, it’s adverse possession”—a form of so-called squatters’ rights—and claimed the property was his after he had “lived there two days.” He had earlier emailed the family saying he believed the flat was abandoned and wanted to move in. Peto said the family believed he was trying to “manipulate the situation” after one of the owners had died.
Of Nott’s 69 offenses, 16 were burglaries, yet Recorder Richard Stubbs only imposed a suspended sentence after saying he had a “misguided understanding of the law.” He also imposed a two-year restraining order and a requirement to pay £800 costs, which, if it is paid, will likely come from his generous taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.
Nott’s Life on Welfare.
When approached at his home by the Mail, Nott said of his taxpayer-funded criminal lifestyle: “I’ve even said, ‘What the heck? Why am I getting all of this?’ People can’t believe it. But that’s just what I get. That’s the money they give us.” He added: “I know it’s horrible to think about, that someone gets that benefit, but it’s not that much, is it?”
He said he donates £100 a month to the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, which is currently overseeing the early release of thousands of criminals.
The £3,000 Universal Credit figure has not been broken down and is far above a standard single-person award. The £750 disability payment, like the Labour donation claim, comes only from what he told the Mail. A search of the Electoral Commission donations register found no entry in his name, although the £1,200 a year he claims to give sits below the reporting thresholds of £11,180 to a party’s central organization and £2,230 to an accounting unit, so absence from the register does not disprove the claim.
He is not believed to be facing any benefits fraud charges.
