A WIFE who fraudulently claimed she was a single mum to steal more than £30,000 of taxpayers' money in a two-year benefit scam escaped going to jail on Monday. Jodie Holloway, 24, was caught after trying to con council officials by forging her marriage certificate – but mistakenly claimed the date of her wedding was three days after she declared the documents. The blunder "made alarm bells ring" and investigators discovered that the mother-of-three had been falsely claiming money between 2003 and 2005 after she had got hitched to her second husband. Holloway, of The Chantrys, Farnham, was sentenced at Guildford crown court to 40 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months, with an 18-month supervision order. She had earlier pleaded guilty to obtaining income support, housing benefit, and council tax benefit dishonestly from Waverley Borough Council. Julia Furley, prosecuting, said that the defendant, previously Jodie White, remarried in July 2003 and "did not declare that change of circumstances to the council". She said that although Holloway had legitimately received benefits before that date, when she married again she was not entitled to the same support. The court heard that on July 8, 2005, Holloway finally notified the authorities about her new marriage. But instead of admitting that the wedding had been two years earlier, she faked her marriage documents so they stated her wedding was on July 11 2005 – three days later. Miss Furley said: "Investigations showed the wedding certificate she provided to the council had been doctored so the date saying she had been married in 2003 in fact said she got married in 2005." Holloway initially claimed to officers in a police interview that she had been a single mum and was entitled to the £30,377 benefits. Miss Furley said: "Once the doctored marriage certificate and various other information from the church was produced, she then accepted she misinformed the council." Anthony Rimmer, defending, said that Holloway had carried out the fraud because of "overwhelming and crippling debt" from loans and credit card bills. She was subjected to a £57,000 bankruptcy order in December last year. The court heard that the part-time cleaner's first husband deserted her in May 2001, leaving her with an inherited £10,000 debt, and he has not seen their seven-year-old son in three years. Mr Rimmer said that her second husband then left her when their baby was three weeks old, adding: "There was an element of contribution, but it was at best erratic." He added: "This is not a case of sheer greed but clearly a case of dishonesty sustained over a two- year period." Recorder Henry Martineau told Holloway: "You dishonestly obtained money from the public purse, that of just over £30,000. "That is a sum which means I have to start basically by thinking of imprisonment." But he said that he could suspend her sentence because she has no criminal record and because it was not an "elaborate scam" but a case of continuing dishonesty. He said that her two husbands had not been reliable providers, adding: "I can see there were many reasons for you to be tempted that do not have anything to do with simple greed. "This is not a case of high living at the tax payers' expense. "I also bear in mind you took the initiative to bring to an end the withdrawal to which you were not entitled."