'I want to make £40,000 for my family with benefits… and if I don’t, I’ll STEAL the rest': Roma father reveals plans for new life in the UK (and he’s bringing his sister along too)

For Yonn Lazer, 36, from the tiny village of Argetoaia in southern Romania, life for him, his wife Maria and their three children hasn't always been easy.

But the family's life has taken a turn for the better after Mr Lazer moved to London - allowing him to put a grand plan to rake in £40,000 in British benefits into action.

Six months after arriving in the capital, Mr Lazer is sending home £800 each week - and says 'England' has 'given me everything'.

Big plans: Yonn Lazer, 36, from Argetoaia in Romania, plans to make £40,000 from benefits in two years

'I know it is very, very easy to take benefit in England,' says the 36-year-old whose last trip to the UK, prior to the relaxing of restrictions on Romanian nationals, ended in his

deportation for failing to find a job.

'She's give me home free. She's give me money free. She's give me everything.'

The UK has become an increasingly popular destination for European Roma gypsies, with a staggering 200,000 arriving in the last decade alone.

Reasons for the influx include ostracism at home and a lack of job opportunities, as well as the ease with which migrants can access benefits in the UK.

The latter is something Mr Lazer knows all too well. 'England is one country with much money,' he says. 'I need maybe £40,000 for my family and I think this money I can make in one year, maybe two.

'I want to make one good house with three rooms, one bathroom, a fridge, plasma TV... My family is very important and I love my family. For them, I do everything.'

Poverty: Mr Lazer in his home village of Argetoaia in Romania prior to his departure for London six months ago

Not happy: Mr Lazer says he needs to make money for the sake of his wife Maria and their three young children

If he doesn't manage to rake in enough cash, his plans will take a criminal turn. 'If I don't have food, I'll go and steal,' he admits. 'The pocket, the paper and sometimes in the house if there is nobody, take, yeah.'

Although his wife Maria has remained in Argetoaia with the couple's three children, joining Mr Lazer in London is his sister, her husband and their neighbours Dmitri and Stefana.

Also in London is Mr Lazer's 15-year-old daughter Alina, recently married and pregnant with her first child.

'My daughter is coming here together with her husband and she's going to stay here because is good country,' says Mr Lazer happily.

'We gonna make some money quick and she's going to be everything OK. I am very happy for this.'

Like most Roma travelling to the UK, Mr Lazer's transport and accommodation were paid for by his clan leader, who takes a cut from any money he makes and any benefits he claims.

Along with claiming as much as possible, including tax credits for his children in Romania, Mr Lazer has also been working for his clan boss as a scrap metal collector.

Tough times: Mr Lazer (centre), his wife Maria (left) and his brother-in-law who has also travelled to the UK

Squalid: The grim conditions in which Mr Lazer's family live in their home village of Argetoaia in Romania

'I'm going to take any metal from the street because I need money,' says Mr Lazer. 'And if I see something, I'm going to the home. I knock on the door and I'm ask if there is any metal. If it's outside, from garden I take, no I don't ask, because it's outside.'

Nephew Romica, also living in the UK, takes a similar approach to scrap metal collecting. 'Bicycles are the easiest thing to take and the money from this is quite good,' he explains.

'I take 10 to15 bikes, we sell them and make money.'

Lucrative though the scrap metal trade can be, the real money spinner is benefits and Mr Lazer says he is sending up to £800 a week home to his family.

'I think it's good money for me now, for the moment,' he says cheerfully. 'I have children benefit, I have tax working credit and I have child tax credit. £820 so it's good money for me.

New job: Mr Lazer is topping up his benefits by collecting scrap metal - of both the legal and illegal varieties

Trailer for Benefits Britain: Life On The Dole

'This week, Monday, I sent £500 and today, I'm going to send more £300. It's £800 just this week. It's good money because I need for my family this money because I know in Romania, life is heavy. If I don't have money, don't have nothing.'

Is he at all embarrassed about the amount he's being handed? The answer is no. 'Some people think it's bad if you have benefit or something but I think it's not,' he says.

'I think it's very good. It's good for me and my family. I don't have any interest in what they think, other people. It's my life, my family and I think I am lucky, yeah!'

Yonn Lazer appears on Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole, tonight at 9pm on Channel 5

DM