THURS PM: Matthews family friend Amanda Hyett jailed for £35,000 benefit fraud
THE family friend of abducted schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was jailed for a year today after she admitted benefit fraud amounting to more than £35,000.
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, of King Edward Street, Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, was a prominent figure following the disappearance of Shannon Matthews last year.
She lived next door to the schoolgirl and is the sister of Shannon’s mother Karen’s former partner, Craig Meehan.
Hyett stood in the dock looking straight forward as the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC, passed sentence.
Dressed in a grey and black cardigan over a white blouse, she nodded slightly as Judge Collier told her he was sending her to prison for 12 months and she would have to serve half of this term.
Her husband - who was described by Hyett’s own barrister as "completely feckless" - left the court in tears.
He later left the court in a brand new people carrier.
Earlier, Craig Hassal, prosecuting, told the court how Hyett had claimed benefits apparently legitimately from November 2002 when she told the Benefits Agency she had split up from her then partner, Neil Hyett.
Mr Hassal said the offending began in May 2004 when she married Mr Hyett, but failed to tell the authorities about this and that they were living together.
In 2006 Hyett stopped claiming benefits and, in an interview at the time, Mr Hyett told staff "they had tried to go legit".
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