Shannon Matthews' "aunt" jailed for benefit fraud

LONDON (Reuters) - The "aunt" of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, who was kidnapped by her mother to try and claim a newspaper reward, was jailed for a year on Thursday after she admitted benefit fraud amounting to more than 35,000 pounds.

Mother-of-two Amanda Hyett admitted claiming a range of benefits while failing to tell the authorities she lived with her husband, bus driver Neil Hyett.

Hyett, 27, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was a prominent figure following the disappearance of Matthews last year as she lived next door to the schoolgirl and is the sister of the girl's mother Karen's former partner, Craig Meehan.

Karen Matthews was jailed for eight years in January for plotting to abduct her own daughter who went missing from her home in Dewsbury for 24 days, resulting in one of West Yorkshire Police's largest ever searches.

Prosecutor Craig Hassal said the fraud lasted for about four years and amounted to 35,885 pounds.

Hyett admitted four counts of making a false statement or representation to obtain benefits, one count of retaining a wrongful credit and one count of failure to notify a change of circumstances, the Press Association reported.

"This is not a case of a professional gang planning a sophisticated fraud, but one of a single mother, for a large part of the time, who was intent on feeding her family rather than feeding some excessive lifestyle," said Hyett's lawyer Garrett Byrne.

He described her husband as "someone that's completely feckless," adding he went "as far as to father a child with another woman."

He said his client had shown genuine remorse and pleaded with the judge to impose a suspended sentence given she had to look after her two children, aged six and eight.