A MOTHER-of-two from Dudley has been jailed for seven months for fiddling £49,282.46 in benefits.

It was the second time Siobhan Lane, aged 34, had been caught working a benefits scam, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Judge Peter Barrie was told she was ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community for the first fraud, which was carried out between July 2001 and August 2002.

She pocketed money from the second fraud by claiming over a nine year period she was a single parent when she was living with her partner.

It was serious offending, said the judge, as he ruled an aggravating feature in the case was the previous conviction for benefit fraud.

The court was told Lane, of Wellfield Gardens, had claimed income support and housing and council tax benefits she was not entitled to, between October 2004 and January 2012.

But she was rumbled when the Department of Work and Pensions were tipped off about what was going on, the judge was told.

Lane admitted failing to notify the department of a change in her circumstances and the judge said only a prison sentence was appropriate for her offending.

The court was told Lane’s partner had used her address as his own when seeking employment, when insuring his car and on bank and financial statements.

Surveillance carried out by investigators from the department also confirmed the couple were living together.