A SERIAL benefit fraudster who pleaded for her freedom so she could care for her stab victim daughter has been jailed for three months.

Mother-of-three Michelle Teague broke down in tears as she was led away from the dock at Portsmouth Crown Court to begin her sentence.

At a previous hearing, Southampton Crown Court had heard how the 37-year-old had claimed thousands of pounds in taxpayers' money by claiming she was a single mum with no income.

In reality she was not only married but had held down three jobs across Southampton while conning the system out of nearly £40,000.

Teague's defence team had asked the judge to spare her a jail term for the sake of her teenage daughter who was stabbed on a bus in Dorset a year ago and needed her mum's help to recover.

The 14-year-old, along with her two friends, were attacked last August in what police described as a "sustained and frenzied" knife attack as they went to get off a bus at Bridport.

Officers said the stabbing had come about after an argument on the bus between the group of teenagers and a 20 year-old man.

The court was told that the stabbing had a profound effect on the youngster, who needed counselling and who still had flashbacks from the incident.

£38,000 When Teague appeared earlier before Southampton Crown Court she admitted nine counts of cheating the benefits agency to the tune of £38,000. Yesterday she was sentenced to three months on each charge to run concurrently.

The court heard that she had been making false claims for income support, income tax benefit and council tax benefit over a period of three years and eight months.

Initially her claims were legitimate but after Teague's partner moved in and they later married she still renewed the claims.

The prosecution said that, while she was claiming, Teague had also worked in Southampton as a barmaid in a social club, a shop assistant and as a classroom assistant.

When investigators went to her home in Warren Avenue, Shirley Warren, they found it had been abandoned. In a pile of post there was information which led to a caravan park at West Bay, Dorset where Teague was arrested.

Judge Roger Hetherington had adjourned sentencing tp consider reports. David Coomb, in mitigation for Teague, said it was more than vital that his client kept her liberty so she could look after her daughter who was still coming to terms with the incident in Bridport.

Judge Hetherington described the benefit fraud as calculated and sustained dishonesty which was on a scale that must attract a sentence of imprisonment.

After giving careful consideration he said: "The appropriate course should be custodial sentence to mark the gravity of the matter."

But he said that he was making the sentence as short as he possibly could so she would be able to return to the family home within a reasonable period of time.