A Hampshire teacher who fraudulently claimed more than £74,000 in benefits was jailed for 21 months yesterday.

Linda Manqui claimed to be living alone with her two children at the family home when in reality husband Luis, a joiner, also lived at the property.

She provided false documents to show that the property she lived in was owned by someone else when it was actually owned by Manqui and her husband.

The 43-year-old also provided a false tenancy agreement and a trail of bank accounts to pretend she was paying her fictitious landlord rent by direct debit, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.

Manqui pleaded guilty to eight offences of fraudulently obtaining housing and council tax benefit and two offences of fraudulently obtaining income support, committed over a seven-year period.

She resigned from her job as a Spanish teacher at Brockenhurst College after the offences came to light, the court heard.

Manqui married her Chilean husband Luis in Gibraltar in 1994. The pair settled in Spain and had two children, the court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Brown said that, in 1997, Manqui and her family returned to England and rented a house in Powis Close, New Milton.

Manqui filed claims for income support, housing and council tax under her maiden name of Wadey.

On forms asking whether she was married and had a partner living at the premises she ticked the "no" box each time, said Mr Brown.

But several neighbours told investigators they often saw Luis leaving for work each morning and playing with his children, he added.

The pair were also found to have applied for loans as a married couple and had a joint bank account from which they repaid the loans.

The couple had also jointly purchased the house in Powis Close and obtained a mortgage. But Manqui claimed to be renting the property from Mr Manqui, whom she denied was any relation to herself, said Mr Brown.

Manqui told investigators her husband had only been living with her for the past few months.

She admitted that they had bought a property together but said their plans had fallen through because of her husband's alcohol problem, the court heard.

Manqui's defence, Robert Grey, said Manqui was now "very remorseful" for the offences.

When she first started claiming, her husband had gone back to Spain, but she admitted that she carried on claiming even when he returned, said Mr Grey.

"It was used to pay for basics and support the children," he added.

Judge John Harrow described Manqui's actions as "sophisticated and calculating".