A MUf-two has been jailed for eight months after claiming almost £26,000 in benefits while she was working.

Melanie Hale, 31, of Ailsa Road, Shadsworth, Blackburn, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to eight charges of dishonestly obtaining income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit and asking for another 166 to be take into consideration.

Judge Sycamore said she must serve at least four months because the "systematic" and "persistent" fraud was so serious. Hale's children, aged 10 and 13, are now being cared for by her sister, with Social Services monitoring the arrangement.

She must also repay the debt after the court imposed a compensation order.

Bosses at Blackburn with Darwen Council, which brought the prosecution, said the case demonstrated that they were determined to take action on people who commit benefit fraud.

Coun John Milburn, executive member for resources at the council, said: "While we seek to ensure that genuine claimants receive the full benefits to which they are entitled, clear and premeditated abuse of the benefits system will not be tolerated.

"This council takes benefit fraud very seriously and will prosecute when given the opportunity."

The Department of Work and Pensions alerted the council to the suspected fraud and a joint investigation was launched.

It revealed that Hale had been employed at LG Phillips Displays since 1998, information she had not declared. The court heard that there were overpayments over a number of years of £16,798 in income support, £7,022 in housing benefit and £1,655 in council tax benefit.

Hale's defence said she had been left with a large debt after a long-term relationship with the father of her two sons ended.

She was made redundant from Phillips earlier this year and told the court that she had used a £1,000 pay-off to buy her children beds and school uniforms.