Parents are being warned they could face jail by letting their children play truant.

Education officials say the case of the Banbury mother imprisoned for 60 days for allowing her two teenage daughters to stay away from school, should send a powerful message to others.

Patricia Amos, 43, a single mother with five children, was jailed by Banbury magistrates after the court heard the girls, aged 13 and 15, had played truant from Banbury School for two years.

Amos, of School View, Banbury, is the first parent in the country to be jailed for letting children play truant. The council's acting principal education social worker, Sue Aldridge, said: "The case shows that we won't let go of cases where children aren't going to school.

"Parents cannot put their heads in the sand. It is their responsibility to get their children into school and we need to work to achieve that end.

"Playing truant is illegal, and means children miss out on life chances. If they are not in school they are not giving themselves an opportunity to fulfil their potential."

She said children missing school were also more likely to be sucked into crime and anti-social behaviour. Amos's case followed a series of heavy fines imposed on parents of truants.

Yesterday, county council staff and police officers took to the streets of Banbury in the latest in a series of operations aimed at rounding up truants.