Judge’s daughter begs for leniency for Rastamouse dole cheat
The creator of the children’s TV character Rastamouse avoided a prison sentence for cheating the dole after the judge’s daughter told him not to jail the author.
Michael de Souza, 64, wrote the books about the rodent who solves mysteries with his reggae band Da Easy Crew.
He wrongly claimed £3,581.90 in Jobseeker’s Allowance and £5,186.12 in housing benefit between January and December 2017, while failing to declare his income from his writing.
Judge Christopher Hehir sentenced De Souza to 160 hours of community service and told him: ‘It is a great shame that a man of your undoubted talents, which I’ve been able to observe for myself through the medium of the TV show Rastamouse, finds himself before the crown court for a matter of this sort.
After De Souza admitted the offences at Southwark Crown Court the judge said: ‘Not even Da Easy Crew can get him out of this one.
‘I’ve got young children and I used to be a fan of Rastamouse. I did tell my eight-year-old daughter, who was a big fan when she was younger, that Mr De Souza was appearing before me, and she wasn’t keen on a custodial sentence.’
He added: ‘For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t usually run sentences past my young children.’
Trinidad-born De Souza created the musical mouse in 2003 and Rastamouse was turned into a CBeebies TV show in 2011 and is voiced by Reggie Yates.
De Souza, of Princethorpe House, Westbourne Park, west London, admitted two charges of dishonestly failing to notify a change in circumstances between December 2016 and December 2017.
He claimed he had not really faced up to his dole fraud because his writing was such an irregular source of income.
ENDS
