A DEVIZES mother with a young family was told she could have faced a jail sentence for claiming more housing benefit than she was entitled to.

Susan Collins of West View Crescent pleaded guilty at Kennet magistrates court last week to failing to notify Kennet District Council that she had taken a second job.

Michael Rowan, prosecuting, told the bench that Collins had first submitted an application for housing benefit in 1995 when she was employed part-time by Weston's tobacconists in Northgate Street.

But in November 2001 she took a second part-time job at the Moonrakers pub in Nursteed Road but failed to notify Kennet.

By May 2 last year, when the overpayment came to light, she had received £1,072 too much. She had begun paying it back and now owes less than £420.

Collins said she had been suffering from depression. She said: "I never set out to con anybody."

Presiding magistrate Jill Petchley told Collins that the bench had to consider a custodial sentence because the deception was deliberate and had taken place over a period of years.

But because she had a young family and was repaying the debt, magistrates were considering a medium period of community punishment.

The case was adjourned until June 7 for a pre-sentence report.