Social security chiefs issued the demand after ruling Kayley Asher wasn’t eligible for any financial help because she’d already received compensation for her injuries.
Kayley, 25, was targeted by evil nurse Allitt dubbed the Angel of Death while she was in hospital as a 13-month-old baby.
Despite the severity of her injuries she was awarded just £11,500 in damages, to be held in a trust fund until she was 18. She was also later granted around £120-a-week in disability benefits to help her parents cope with their daughter’s condition.
The DWP has now cut off the Employment Support Allowance Kayley had been receiving. And it is demanding £23,500 of the allowance – paid because her disabilities prevent her from working – is handed back.
Officials claim the fact Kayley has savings of more than £16,000, which is made up of the compensation she received plus interest, means she is not eligible for the allowance.
The demand has infuriated her mum Sharon who says her only way of paying it back is to plunder her daughter’s compensation fund.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Post, outraged Sharon, 55, revealed she is refusing to pay back the money. “They are not having a penny,” she said. “Even if it means I have to go to prison.”
She said there’s no way she should have to raid the money awarded to Kayley because of the injuries Allitt inflicted on her.
“That money is to pay for Kayley’s care because she was attacked by Allitt,” she added. “I’m fuming they are threatening to take it away. Kayley would be left with nothing and will even have to take out a loan to pay the full amount.”
A judge awarded Kayley compensation, to be paid out when she turned 18, after Allitt was convicted of causing her grievous bodily harm with intent. The killer nurse murdered three babies and a boy, as well as attacking eight other children.
Experts believe she injected Kayley with air under her armpit, causing her to suffer a heart attack, while she was being treated in hospital for a chest infection.
Kayley’s life was saved but social workers initially told her foster parents she would never walk or talk because of the extent of her disabilities.
In the time between the ruling and Kayley reaching adulthood, her compensation had swelled to £22,000 because of interest payments.
Sharon who adopted Kayley with her sister Zara in 1997 insists a judgment made it clear at the time the compensation would not affect her daughter’s disability benefits in the future.
But crucial paperwork held by the authorities has now gone missing, she claims.
Benefits rules say anyone with savings over £16,000 is not eligible for disability allowance. The DWP stopped all Kayley’s payments in December and sent a letter to Sharon demanding £23,530 be paid back. Incredibly Sharon was threatened with investigation for benefit fraud after the alleged overpayments came to light.
The mum-of-four, who is also mum to Jannean, 32, and Duaine 34, added: “They are now saying just pay it with your Visa card, as if we’ve got that sort of money. We haven’t got a penny to our names.”
Sharon said Kayley needed the money more than ever after suffering brain damage when she technically “died” during surgery to fit a replacement hip in 2012.
“The DWP do not understand the stress all this has caused,” said Sharon, who is married to 58-year-old church minister Alan, a former mayor of their home town of Grantham, Lincs.
“Kayley is special needs and has got worse since the brain damage. She can’t even wash her own hair. If we had been awful parents, we would have spent that money. But somebody has to look after Kayley when we are gone.
“If one of her sisters has to look after her, they will have to give up work so who is going to pay for them to live? We need this money to pay for Kayley’s future.”
Kayley’s parents are now in discussion with the Citizens Advice Bureau and Lincolnshire County Council in a bid to get their daughter’s benefits re-instated.
Their plight is being supported by Alan Davidson, whose son 30-year-old Matthew suffers from ADHD after being attacked by the killer nurse.
Mr Davidson said: “I cannot understand why on earth they are asking for this money back. The girl is disabled because of Allitt. She should take the DWP to court.”
The family have also appealed for help from their MP, Tory minister Nick Boles.
Sharon and Alan are also supporting an e-petition on the Change.org website set up by Helen Parry, a friend of their daughter’s.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said Kayley’s family had the right of appeal against the decision to cut her benefits.
She said: “Income-related Employment and Support Allowance takes into account all of a claimant’s available capital. This is to ensure that support is targeted at the people who need it most.”
Beverley Allitt
Nurse who killed four children and seriously injured many others
Doctors were baffled when eight-week-old Liam Taylor died, apparently of an undiagnosed heart condition on February 23, 1991. He had only been admitted to Grantham & Kesteven Hospital’s special children’s unit with a chest infection. Later, they were struck by the horrific truth he was Beverly Allitt’s first victim.
In the 59 days which followed, the unassuming nurse went on to kill three more kids and injure nine more while they were at their most vulnerable.
The four children were murdered by injections of high doses of insulin. One, Paul Crampton, had 43,147 milliunits of insulin in his blood, one of the highest concentrations ever found in a victim. Crucial pages in the hospital logbook had been ripped out and the public began to fear a killer was stalking hospital wards.
Police focused on Allitt and the missing logbook pages were discovered at her home. She was charged with four murders, 11 attempted murders and 11 counts of causing grievous bodily harm.
She was branded the Angel of Death and psychiatrists concluded she was suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, a mental condition where sufferers do harm to become the centre of attention. She denied the charges but was found guilty and ordered to be held in Rampton High Security Psychiatric Hospital.
The judge at Nottingham Crown Court ruled that she must serve 30 years before being considered for parole.
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