How can benefits being given to killers possibly be fair?, asks Jacob Rees-Mogg

Of these, most on Universal Credit, about 3.7 million, while around 1.6 million are on incapacity benefit.

The question is how many of these could in fact work, and does the current system disincentivise people moving off benefits and into work?

This is very important because we're told that we have a labour shortage and therefore need mass immigration.

Bear in mind 1.4 million net in the two years to June of 2023 to plug the labour gap, but if we have at least 3.7 million people who could be employed, wouldn't it be better if we tried to get them back into workforce?

But today news has come out that's revealed a particular quirk and I would say scandal in our benefits system.

Valdo Calocane, the Nottingham triple killer, is eligible for up to £360 a month in Universal Credits paid for by you.

I should add the fact that he is carrying out his sentence in a secure hospital rather than a prison, this is what creates the eligibility.

If the judge had issued a 45 or 47 order which would have insured his transfer to prison upon release from hospital, defining him as a prisoner, he would have been deemed ineligible for the benefits, but these orders were not issued with his sentence.

These benefits are supposedly in place to maintain Mr Calocane’s dignity so he can pay for books, food, clothes and electronic equipment.

But actually most of this is already covered in the basic accommodation that he receives, rather than needing another £360 or £4320 a year.

And it's quite extraordinary because the cost of his accommodation is about £150,000 a year.

So this is on top of all of that, and doesn't it epitomise a broader issue with benefits being given to killers?

In 2005, Nicola Edgington killed her own mother, went on to spend three years in a secure psychiatric unit before being released with £8,000 of benefits in back pay.

Edgington went on to kill another woman with a butcher's knife on the streets of London.

Now there are nearly 3000 people in secure psychiatric hospitals who are apparently eligible for these benefits, which adds up to about £30million a year of your money.

And as I said, these places cost £150,000 a year or about five times the annual cost of an inmate in prison.

So is the justice system producing justice? But it's also so unfair, surely on the families.

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby who was killed by Calocane, said: “Whilst we're desperately trying to process our enormous grief battle to try and find a way forward to return to work and support our families, this vicious monster not only has 10s of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money spent to keep him inside, he can also amass a small fortune of state benefits. How can this possibly be fair?”

Those words resonate. How can this possibly be fair?