A mum was jailed for claiming benefits in the names of her two dead children.

Maria Pridmore, 35, accepted payouts for stillborn daughter Shannon and newborn son Kia, who died at two-weeks-old.

The former nurse endured the two tragedies and 14 miscarriages before giving birth to a healthy daughter in 2012. But she secretly pocketed nearly £17,000 of benefits in the names of two of her dead children.

She used her son Kia, who died a fortnight after being born in 2009, and stillborn baby Shannon to claim the cash.

Lincoln Crown Court heard pocketed more than £16,000 worth of housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support.

Pridmore, from Holbeach, Lincolnshire said she was a lone-parent with dependent children in order to claim the benefits. But she failed to notify the authorities that she had moved or was actually living with her then-partner.

The court heard the drug addict was also a serial fraudster who also stole more than £30,000 from four women. Pridmore suffered her first miscarriage aged just 19 and went on to experience the trauma of a further 13 miscarriages and a stillbirth.

She was jailed for three years on Friday after admitting seven charges of benefit fraud between 2001 and 2013.

A mum was jailed for claiming benefits in the names of her two dead children.

Maria Pridmore, 35, accepted payouts for stillborn daughter Shannon and newborn son Kia, who died at two-weeks-old.

The former nurse endured the two tragedies and 14 miscarriages before giving birth to a healthy daughter in 2012. But she secretly pocketed nearly £17,000 of benefits in the names of two of her dead children.

She used her son Kia, who died a fortnight after being born in 2009, and stillborn baby Shannon to claim the cash.

Lincoln Crown Court heard pocketed more than £16,000 worth of housing benefit, council tax benefit and income support.

Pridmore, from Holbeach, Lincolnshire said she was a lone-parent with dependent children in order to claim the benefits. But she failed to notify the authorities that she had moved or was actually living with her then-partner.

The court heard the drug addict was also a serial fraudster who also stole more than £30,000 from four women. Pridmore suffered her first miscarriage aged just 19 and went on to experience the trauma of a further 13 miscarriages and a stillbirth.

She was jailed for three years on Friday after admitting seven charges of benefit fraud between 2001 and 2013.