Defendant goes into labour in court

A PREGNANT woman who was accused of claiming social security benefits while working went into premature labour when she appeared in court yesterday.

Jenny Warman, who is expecting her ninth child, was waiting for magistrates in Bath, Avon, to pass sentence when her contractions began. The magistrates gave Warman, 38, who admitted defrauding social security of pounds 1,500, a conditional discharge and ordered that the extra money she earned be deducted from her benefit before she was ushered from the court.

Michael Rogers, for the prosecution, had told the court that Warman, of Twerton in Avon, had worked as a cleaner, earning up to pounds 10 a month - despite claiming pounds 120 a week in benefits.

But Steven Greenwood, for the defence, said the extra money was needed to pay for Warman's first holiday with her children and her boyfriend, John Warman, 57, father of two of her children and the unborn child. Moments after he explained that she had planned to quit the cleaning job because she was expecting, her contractions began.

Last night Warman said: 'I love having children and I want to have more . . . I am a breeding machine and that makes me very happy.'