Christine Godwin was sentenced today at Canterbury Crown Court

by Paul Hooper

A Ramsgate mum-of-five was jailed for 14 months today after cheating taxpayers out of more than £100,000.

Christine Godwin, 60, claimed that for 14 years she was bringing up her family as a lone parent.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard that she was married to Robert Godwin and they lived together at Fairfield Road.

Her lies were exposed when fraud investigators spotted that she was still wearing her wedding ring.

Prosecutor David Jugnarain told how Godwin had also gone to Paris with her family around her 35th wedding anniversary.

He said: "The benefit fraud spanned 14 years between 1996 and 2010. The essence was she failed to declare that she was living with her husband."

The prosecutor told that she fraudulently received income support, jobseekers allowance and council tax benefits totalling £100,792.

He said: "During the investigation, evidence was obtained from a variety of sources that demonstrated that she was living with Mr Godwin.

"There were financial links including join bank accounts. Mr Godwin was paying for some of the utilities to the property. Birth certificates for their children, school records, and evidence from a family friend [were obtained].

"There was evidence in relation to holidays they had taken together with their children, including a trip to Paris that coincided with their 35th wedding anniversary."

The court heard that the family also enjoyed holidays in Majorca, Turkey and the Isle of Wight.

During the investigation she told officials that her husband was gay and living in France "with a male partner". She also denied he was the father of her youngster child.

She was still wearing her wedding ring and claimed she hadn't divorced him "because she didn't want the bother".

But Judge Adele Williams told her that they had all been lies and Godwin admitted nine fraud charges.

Peter Forbes, defending, denied Godwin had used the money to pay for "a lavish lifestyle".

He said that the claims were legitimate at the beginning but "one small lie and deception escalated and continued," he added.

The judge said it had been "persistent dishonesty over some period of time".