A couple who ran a £40,000 benefits fraud while sailing the world on a luxury yacht were jailed today.

Shashi Bacheta, 52, and Jeffrey Cole, 58, admitted 20 charges connected with the elaborate swindle, which was played out over almost five years.

Bacheta conned her way to a series of benefits claiming that she was too ill even to walk while she was scuba diving in Kenya. She planned to carry on around the world on her lover’s £100,000 yacht, The Kismet.

She was jailed for 21 months today at Swansea Crown Court. Her lover was jailed for nine months.