Britain’s most hated woman convinced Leeds Council to give her a new home because she felt threatened by Twitter trolls
Scrounging wannabe model Josie Cunningham has been given a new council house nearly twice the size of her old one after claiming she received death threats on Twitter.
The mum of three last week swapped a cramped two-bedroom terraced home on an estate for a newly refurbished three-bed semi in a quaint village 20 miles from her old home.
Cunningham, branded “Britain’s most hated woman” by her own mother, told a source close to her that she asked Leeds council to move her because she was scared people would find her at her old address.
But the source revealed: “Josie thought her poky little terrace in the middle of a council estate didn’t really suit her new image so she wanted to move anyway.
“When she started to get Twitter threats she saw an opportunity.”
The 24-year-old loudmouth caused outrage on the website after the September birth of her daughter Grace – the child she had wanted to abort so she could go on this year’s Big Brother.
Cunningham dismissed breastfeeding as “borderline incest” and tweeted during the two-minute Armistice Day silence that she wanted to “scream and shout”. Although she later claimed she sent the tweet after it finished.
Our source said: “Josie asked the council to move her out because she was afraid Twitter trolls would find her.
“She knew what she wanted so she went and got it. But in private she says the trolls don’t bother her as much as the single mum’s three potential fathers of her little girl turning up unannounced.
“She still hasn’t bothered to get the DNA test done, and all three men are left unsure if they are the father.
“Josie rang me up laughing when the deal for her new home came off and said you ‘couldn’t swing a cat in the old place. I could swing a tiger in here – wait till you see it’. The place is amazing. It’s about double the size of her old place.”
And that’s not all that Cunningham – who made her name by blagging a £4,800 boob job and botox on the NHS –is alleged to have got out of the council for little more than her old rent.
Our source said: “Before Josie moved in, she insisted they fit a brand new £3,500 kitchen including new appliances and a £2,000 bathroom.
“She also made them re-plaster four of the rooms. But they refused to give her brand new carpets throughout, so she’s forked out £1,600 on new carpets herself.
“She’s obviously not short of money. She splashes out £500 a day for a bodyguard and driver when she works in London – and her children have more designer clothes than most adults.”
Cunningham has landed numerous magazine deals. She runs her own dating website, yet she claims she still cannot afford to rent a private home for her family.
Our source confirmed she has shelled out thousands on a security system worthy of a Hollywood A-lister in her new home.
“Josie has CCTV all around her house and has had panic buttons – which go through to a security monitoring company – installed in all the rooms,” said the insider. “She has had a two-way intercom put on her door. It records everything but it’s mostly conversations with the postman.”
The source also claimed Cunningham wears a tracking device while out and about in case she gets kidnapped.
“She is living as though she is a superstar,” said the source. “She’s given the boys the biggest room in the house, but the room she planned on giving Grace is now being measured up for a built-in closet.
“Josie loves watching shows like MTV Cribs and is determined to have a dream home with somewhere to show of her collection of Christian Louboutins.
“The conversion will cost her £3,000 but she has her heart set on it.
“She’s also upgraded two of her 42” TV sets to 50” flat screens as she thought they looked too small on her new big walls.”
The fame-obsessed wannabe stunned the nation in April when she vowed to abort her baby at 18 weeks for a chance to appear on summer’s Big Brother on Channel 5. Despite changing her mind and giving birth to Grace seven weeks ago, she has continued to shock the public with her scrounging.
Cunningham, who also has sons Harley, seven, and Frankie, three, boasted of charging £6,000 to her local council in taxi fares for
the school run. She claimed she couldn’t use public transport because of her anxiety.
Now she has landed on her feet again in West Ardsley, a West Yorkshire village where three-bed semis are currently selling for around £340,000.
While enjoying lower rents for her council home, Cunningham has already hired a gardener. Our source added: “It seems a bit odd for someone in a council house. I told her it was a bit extravagant but she laughed and said the gardener was hot and she wanted an excuse to see him every week.
“She joked she wanted it to be like Eva Longoria in Desperate Housewives.
“She was hell-bent on getting a house with a drive for the Range Rover she plans to buy with profits from her media work – even though she hasn’t even passed her driving test.
“She hasn’t been able to find her dream pink car so is intending on having a white one sprayed pink to match Katie Price’s.
“She’s planning on buying the car next month as a Christmas present to herself, and then just leaving it in the driveway until she passes. People are clearly starting to get annoyed with her but she doesn’t seem to care.”
Her mother Lisa has said of her: “I’m the mother of the most hated woman in Britain – maybe in the world or even the universe.
“I can see when these things come out of her mouth that more and more people are going to turn against her – and that’s hard.”
The source added: “Josie was definitely a bit scared living where she did in Leeds because some of the people on the estate threatened to reveal her home address to Twitter trolls.
“She has had some horrible threats online including people saying they hope she gets raped or killed because of the things she says.
“But rather than upping security in her little terrace she saw the opportunity to get something more and approached the council. She knows how to get what she wants for herself and her children – you have to give her that!”
A Leeds City Council spokesman said on Friday: “While we do not comment on individual cases, the allocation of social housing by Leeds City Council is undertaken as set out in our waiting list criteria.”
