FRAUD investigators set up a surveillance operation when they became suspicious of a woman who claimed to be living with just her two children.

They noticed a car parked outside the home of Mandie Shears on 19 occasions, first thing in the morning and late at night, giving the impression that someone else was living there.

A check with the DVLA revealed the car belonged to her husband. When questioned, Shears said she had not seen him for years and they had not got back together.

But inquiries showed he had been working for two coach companies and put money into her account before they opened up a joint account Shears, 36, of Stuart Road, Bitterne Manor, Southampton, admitted obtaining about £39,000 over a five-year period through false applications for income support.

Jailing her for six months, Judge Gary Burrell QC said he accepted her offending had not been fraudulent from the start and she had suffered a “wretched life”.

Keely Harvey, defending at the city rown court, said her husband had left her with little money to support her and the children. “He would come and go and she was really living like a lone parent with her children. The money did not go on a high life.”