A mother who faces jail for the second time for not sending her daughter to school has spoken about the problems faced by parents whose children are determined to skip lessons.

Patricia Amos, of Thornbury Rise, Banbury, said it was almost impossible to make sure teenagers went to school every day.

She said any young person who wanted to play truant would find a way, but the law placed all the responsibility on parents.

Amos also said she was being used as an example by Oxfordshire County Council.

She said: "They know that if I appear in court the TV cameras and newspapers will be there. It will be headline news and parents of other truants will get up next morning and make sure their kids go to school.

"It's cheaper and easier for them to prosecute me than it is for them to chase around after other families -- and there are plenty of children with worse school attendance figures than my daughter."

She added: "I'm angry that they're using me as a scapegoat."

Amos became a national figure in May 2002 when she was jailed for allowing two of her five children to play truant. Daughters Jackie and Emma missed nearly two years of schooling and Amos admitted then that she had not done enough to make sure the two attended classes. She had ignored warnings and failed to turn up to meetings arranged by the education officers. She was jailed for 60 days, but released after 14.

Since then elder daughter Emma has won an award for learning and now works as a hairdresser.

But Jackie, now 15, has continued to play truant. At Bicester Magistrates' Court last week Mrs Amos admitted Jackie had missed 31 days of a possible 80 in class.

Amos was bailed for reports and warned she faced jail again.

Her solicitor Steve Waddington said it might be too late to integrate Jackie into the education system.

Amos said: "I hate the thought of any of my children appearing in court. I do not want them in trouble. But as the law stands, any child can play truant -- despite the best efforts of parents -- and the parents get charged."

She said schools should also be more accountable and make a greater effort to tell parents when pupils failed to turn up for lessons.

Amos, who said she expects to be jailed, said she did not know Jackie was not at school a lot of the time, but said she had tried to protect her.