'Boob job' cash burnt

Church leaders say the cash could have been donated to charity

A radio station contestant has been forced to burn her £5,000 cash prize, to stop her using it for a breast enlargement operation.

The West Midlands station Galaxy made Angela Robbins set light to the cash after 51% of listeners voted for the money's destructions.

Church leaders said the stunt was a "slap in the face" to needy causes.

They had urged the station to donate the money to charity.

'Wrong' to burn money

Ms Robbins, from the Shard End district, had told the station she wanted the money for a "boob job and hair extensions".

As she set fire to the cash on Thursday she said she was "absolutely gutted".

While shovelling the cash into a small furnace, she added: "It's not good is it."

A spokesman for the Diocese of Birmingham said: "Whilst we agree with those listeners who thought there were better ways to spend this money than on plastic surgery, we feel that it is wrong to burn this money.

"There are long established charities working in the city who would could use these funds to better the lives of ordinary people.

We offered our listeners the chance to decide the outcome and they chose to have the money burnt rather than spent wildly by our competition participant. Paul Fairburn, MD of Chrysalis Radio Midlands

"There is some incredible charity work going on in Birmingham.

"The burning of this money is a slap in the face to the charities that have to rely on donations and work so hard to raise funds for causes, such as dealing with terminal illness in children."

Charity work

But Paul Fairburn, managing director of Chrysalis Radio Midlands, defended the station's decision to burn the money.

He said: "The money is from our marketing budget, from which we offer great prizes all the time and the winners are always free to squander their winnings as they see fit.

"We offered our listeners the chance to decide the outcome and they chose to have the money burnt rather than spent wildly by our competition participant.

"Our competition rules stated that the cash would be burnt if that were the voters' choice.

"We do significant charity work within our community, though we would never pretend to be as charitable as the Church."