Southend Council has warned of hardline measures to tackle truancy after a mother was jailed for failing to send her children to school.

More prosecutions and new on-the-spot fines are to follow after Maria Wavell, 44, of Chestnut Grove, Southend, was sent to prison for a month.

Paul Greenhalgh, assistant director of education at Southend Council, said: "We will use these hard nosed measures if we have to and will be introducing fixed penalty notices this month as an early warning deterrent for parents."

Wavell was jailed for 28 days after Southend Magistrates' Court heard she had been prosecuted four times since 1998 for failing to get her children to school.

Roger Neild, defending, said Wavell had changed her ways as both the children had been at school or on authorised absence for every day of the new term, which started earlier this month.

He added she had successfully battled alcohol problems and had no previous issues with any of her five other children who had all now finished school.

However, Wavell, who had pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure her children attended school at an earlier hearing, broke down in tears as she was led in to custody by security officers.