The creator of crime-busting animated hero Rastamouse has run into legal trouble of his own after he was accused of being a benefits cheat.
Author Michael De Souza was the brains behind the hit CBeebies show, thrilling children with tales of Rastamouse and his reggae band Da Easy Crew as they went around “solving mysteries in the neighbourhood”.
The Rastafarian rodent, voiced on TV by Reggie Yates, told fans to “take it easy” as he split his time between playing music and solving crimes for the President of Mouseland.
But De Souza, 64, may now be in trouble himself, accused of receiving thousands of pounds in state handouts while hiding his earnings as a self-employed author.
He was a swimming teacher to children of A-listers including Stella McCartney and Sir Richard Branson before turning his hand to writing and creating his beloved mouse hero in collaboration with author and illustrator Genevieve Webster.
Books such as Rastamouse And Da Bag-a Bling and Rastamouse And the Crucial Plan were written in Afro-Caribbean patois as the hero set about his mission to “make a bad ting good”.
The character eventually transferred to television in 2011, running for three series and 52 episodes on CBeebies until 2015.
De Souza was charged last month with benefit fraud by allegedly failing to declare his earnings as an author to the Department for Work and Pensions.
It is said he claimed housing benefit and Jobseeker’s Allowance throughout most of 2017 while “failing to declare you were self-employed as an author and in receipt of earnings”.
The Trinidad-born writer appeared at Southwark crown court yesterday to deny the charges. Judge Michael Gledhill gave him permission to keep his hat on, in accordance with his Rastafarian religion, for the brief hearing.
De Souza created Rastamouse while caring for his young daughter, building on stories and characters he had invented to help his swimming students overcome their fears.
He said he hoped the character, who started life as a cash-strapped mouse struggling to make ends meet after losing his council house, would help to bridge the gap between different communities in the UK.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about integration, but we’re not dealing with the rhetoric. We’re dealing with the reality of it,” he said.
De Souza was released on bail by Judge Gledhill on the condition that he continues to live at his home address in Westbourne Green.
He is due to stand trial at the same court in the week beginning July 22.
De Souza denies two charges of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances.
MORE ABOUT