A COUPLE have received £4,500 of taxpayers' money from a government-backed scheme to help set up a business as psychic mediums.

Paul and Deborah Rees, who say they can put people in contact with dead relatives and offer training to clairvoyants, want to set up a scheme to get people in Wales back into jobs.

However, the decision to use public money to fund this business has provoked some criticism.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It defies belief that when really serious companies are going under, in part due to their high tax bill, taxpayers' money is being spent on this kind of mumbo jumbo.

"We have got to make sure that every penny of taxpayers' money is spent to best effect and there are some companies out there crying out for tax relief."

Mr Rees, aged 40, of North Cornelly, Bridgend, said: "We went through a lot of business plans and red tape where they needed documentation and eventually we had our funding."

Click here to debate this story at Planet Swansea.

Mr Rees said his wife recently helped two parents contact a son who was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

"The evidence she gave to the mum and dad they could not dismiss, because it was so personal to them," the father-of-two said.

"If your heating breaks down in the winter you have someone fix the boiler, if you lose a son, you have a medium."

For the full story, see the South Wales Evening Post on Tuesday, March 31.

IF more evidence was needed of how governments waste taxpayers’ money, consider the couple given £4,500 to set up a business talking to the dead.

A spokesman for the Assembly describes the "psychic mediums" business as a "unique venture". That’s one way of looking at it.

One of the partners in the venture says: "If you lose a son, you have a medium." That is grotesquely insensitive and insulting to all those grieving parents who have borne their loss without resorting to this nonsense. The cash should be taken back.