A JUDGE slammed the benefits system as he sentenced a drug addict who got £200 a week of taxpayers’ cash to blow on drugs and commit crime because of self-induced health problems.

Andrew Spencer, who slashed a man with a piece of glass while in a ‘very disturbed’ state after a cocktail of heroin and valium, suffered mental health problems, which doctors said were probably caused by drugs.

The psychiatric difficulties allowed him to get incapacity and disability handouts which enabled him to buy large quantities of drugs and led to crime.

The cycle was slammed as ‘ridiculous’ by Judge Simon Newell who said victim David Wallace, who ended up with part of his ear severed and three jaw wounds, could have suffered life-threatening injuries.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Spencer, 27, had committed his sixth violence offence in six years and they were escalating.

One assault had been on his grandmother who was at the hearing to support him.

He was jailed for 16 months by Judge Newell, who said: “It seems to be a ridiculous cycle, that effectively the state is paying for him to take drugs which are causing mental health problems and then crime.”

The judge, who had read medical and pre-sentence reports on the defendant, said if Spencer stopped taking drugs it seemed very likely his mental health problems would, if not disappear completely, be substantially reduced.

Spencer, of Travis Street, Burnley, admitted wounding, last September 25.

The court was told the victim, 33, was at his girlfriend’s house when Paula Toomey, Spencer’s ex-partner, arrived and said she had left the defendant.

Spencer turned up, smashed a window at the house next door and then threatened to slit his throat with a large shard of glass.

A struggle ensued and Spencer grabbed the victim’s jumper and lunged at his face with the shard.

Philip Holden, for Spencer, said it was well-known to a lot of people he received ‘quite handsome benefits’ and people wanted to borrow money off him. Mr Wallace had approached him and asked for some cash before the assault.

Coun Charlie Briggs, the leader of Burnley Council, said: “The offender should have been seeking help and support instead of causing havoc on the street and getting money from the state.”

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to shake up the benefits system in his budget on June 22 as part of an efficiency drive.