A single mother who cheated councils out of almost £60,000 in housing benefit has been jailed, despite receiving “devastating” news the day before.

Natalie Ebanks of Simplicity Lane in Harlow committed benefit fraud in both Epping Forest and Harlow, and was jailed for 12 months on Tuesday (August 23).

Epping Forest District Council overpaid Ebanks by £58,165.91 and Harlow council – who were tipped off about the Epping Forest investigation – paid £1,162.39.

The 46-year-old mother was said to be devastated in court as she had learnt about the death of her friend Reece Morris from Walthamstow the day before.

Mr Morris, 40, died on Sunday trying to save his daughter from rough seas off the Spanish Costa Del Sol.

He is believed to have had a heart attack on the beach in Torrox, Malaga, in front of his wife after other holidaymakers brought his ten-year-old daughter ashore.

As Ebanks wept in the dock her barrister, Zarif Khann, told Judge Charles Gratwicke at Chelmsford Crown Court: “Yesterday she received devastating news.

“A very close friend died in Spain - it's in the papers and on the news - trying to save his young daughter.

“This morning she is extremely tearful and shaky.”

Mother-of-two Ebanks pleaded guilty to eight counts of benefit fraud covering five years from October 2008 to December 2013.

They related to properties in Barncroft Green, Loughton, and Simplicity Lane, Harlow.

She claimed she was not related to the landlords, when in fact the Loughton property was owned by her parents Michael and Shirley Lamey and the Harlow one by her daughter Daniella Djemal.

Prosecutor Alison Lambert said that Epping Forest District Council had only received £120 of the money owed and that civil proceedings would be launched in a bid to recover the rest.

Ebanks is repaying Harlow £10 a month, she added.

The court heard that Ebanks maintained that she rented Barncroft Green from M&S Properties, but investigators discovered it was owned by her parents Michael and Shirley Lamey.

Mr Lamey was a director and 50 per cent shareholder of M&S Properties and his wife was company secretary.

Ebanks made false declarations in December 2013 about the date of when she moved from there to the Harlow address.

She also gave Harlow council a false tenancy agreement showing the landlord of the property there was Stephen Michael Properties.

A Land Registry search revealed it was in fact owned by her daughter, said the prosecutor.

Mitigating, Mr Khan said Ebanks accepted she had done wrong.

“If she had had a private landlord she would have been given the money legitimately.

“It only became partly wrong when the property was bought for her by her parents.”

Judge Gratwicke told Ebanks: “You continuously, dishonestly and deliberately obtained money from the state.

“The total sum that the public lost through your dishonesty was £59,328.30.”

He added: “The amount and duration of the fraud requires a sentence of immediate imprisonment.”