A TAXI driver jailed for three-and-a-half years for fraudulently claiming almost £60,000 in benefits today lost her appeal against the length of her jail sentence. Anne Jennifer Jenkinson, 58, of Black Lane, Wisbech, was convicted last April by a Cambrid

A TAXI driver jailed for three-and-a-half years for fraudulently claiming almost £60,000 in benefits today lost her appeal against the length of her jail sentence.

Anne Jennifer Jenkinson, 58, of Black Lane, Wisbech, was convicted last April by a Cambridge Crown Court jury of false accounting, making and using a false instrument and perverting the course of justice.

And today, after a hearing at London's Criminal Appeal Court, top judges upheld the sentence imposed.

Judge Michael Brodrick, sitting with Mr Justice Burton, described how Jenkinson had fooled the authorities into paying unemployment and housing benefits over a period of 10 years, costing the law-abiding taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds.

The 58-year-old had forged documents to hide the true level of her income and the property she owned, leading to an overpayment of £56,000 in benefits.

"At the time, she was working as taxi driver, held numerous bank accounts and had interests in properties in Hornchurch, Cambridgeshire and Grimsby," said the judge.

Jenkinson was arrested in 2003 and charged with a long list of benefit fraud offences the following February.

Last April, the sentencing judge spoke of the "thousands of taxpayers' money and countless hours" that had been wasted meeting her needs and sentenced her to a total of three-and-a-half years.

Today, Jenkinson appealed against the sentence, claiming that while in prison she had met others serving lesser sentences for offences she deemed more serious.

But the judges refused to alter the term. Judge Brodrick said: "This was not just one, but a whole series of lengthy offences with which the judge had to deal.