Bedroom Tax: 'Angel of Woolwich' who helped Lee Rigby living on just £5 A DAY

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett: “The PM praised my bravery and said people like me make this country what it is. Now I’m unable to pay my bills”

Heroine: Ingrid is left broke by Bedroom Tax

A heroic woman dubbed the Angel of Woolwich is struggling to survive after ­becoming the latest victim of the Government’s hated Bedroom Tax.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett won the heart of the nation when she ran to try and help soldier Lee Rigby after he was hacked to death on a London street last May.

But now she scrapes by on just a few pounds a week after being hit by the Bedroom Tax and has to choose between paying her council tax or utility bills, reports the Sunday People.

Ingrid, 49, of Helston, Cornwall, told the Sunday People: “I’m stuck here, poor. There are no jobs. I can’t move. I can’t do anything.

"I’ve got to pay for the bedroom tax which I don’t have money for. I don’t have a TV any more.
“What will I have to stop next? The gas? The electricity? The water?

“The Government doesn’t seem to care. And I’m supposedly a heroine.”

Nation's darling: Ingrid confronted two men during the attack on Lee Rigby

Ingrid was visiting London for the day when she was caught up in the horror near Woolwich Barracks.

She recalled: “The Prime Minister went on the steps of 10 Downing Street and praised my bravery. He said people like me make this country what it is.

"Well, now I’m unable to get a job and unable to pay my bills.”

Ingrid, who is half French, moved to Cornwall six years ago so her two children could study there. She rents a three-bedroomed house from a housing association.

But now her son and daughter have graduated and moved out to live in London, she is alone in the property with two spare rooms.

Ingrid insists she is willing to move to a smaller property but she has nowhere to go and so has to pay the Bedroom Tax.

She said: “I get £58 per week. That’s before Bedroom Tax, which is £21.”

Ingrid is left with just over £5 a day to cover bills, run a car and buy food. She said: “People say I shouldn’t have a car. But there is hardly any public transport.”

Scene: Where Lee Rigby was killed

Former teacher Ingrid has trained as a translator but cannot find work in Cornwall. To add to her problems, she suffers from depression and the painful condition fibromyalgia.

She receives discretionary housing payments to help with the rent as she looks for another home. But she fears this will end and she will fall into arrears.

Since the Sunday People launched its campaign against the Bedroom Tax we have been flooded with similar ­stories to Ingrid’s.

The tax, launched in April, costs social housing tenants with spare rooms an average £16 a week. It affects 660,000 people, two thirds of them disabled.

Mirror