The family of the first person in the country to be jailed for letting her children play truant from school has criticised her sentence.

Patricia Amos, below, a 43-year-old single parent, of School View, Banbury, was jailed for 60 days for not making sure her two teenage daughters attended secondary school.

The girls, 15 and 13, who have played truant for the last two years, are being cared for by Mrs Amos's eldest daughter, Kerry Cowman.

The landmark case was brought by Oxfordshire County Council and may set a precedent for education authorities.

Miss Cowman, 25, said the sentence was a shock to the family -- especially the two girls.

She said: "It's a harsh lesson for them to learn.

"They realise they have done wrong and they are going back to school.

"They have been really affected by it. It has been a shock to everybody."

Miss Cowman, of Thornbury Rise, Banbury, said the two girls began staying off school after the death of their grandmother. Amos, a mother-of-five, took her mother's death badly, she added.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair said parents whose children played truant should expect to be prosecuted.

In November 2000, the Criminal and Court Services Act raised the penalty for failing to send a child to school from a £1,000 fine to a maximum £2,500 penalty and/or a three month jail sentence.

Cllr Tony Crabbe, the county council's cabinet member for education, said the possibility of jailing parents had not been discussed by councillors.

He said officers had decided to take action to protect the schoolgirls' interests. "The outcome is really up to the courts," he said.

The youngest girl returned to school last week, and the elder will return today.