Susan Coates, 30, conducted a long-running immigration scam in which she married seven men wanting to enter Britain - charging them £2,700 each.

She then blackmailed some of the husbands, telling them that unless they paid her more money, she would not send necessary documents to the Home Office.

At an earlier hearing Coates, of Kilburn, north west London, pleaded guilty to six counts of bigamy, one of conspiracy to commit bigamy, and one of conspiracy to defraud the Home Office. On Friday she was given 15 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Woman appointed to top police job

The UK has appointed its third female chief constable.

Jane Stichbury has been given the top police job in Dorset - only the third woman to reach the rank across 43 forces in England and Wales.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Mrs Stichbury becomes the chief constable for Dorset, following in the footsteps of Pauline Clare, chief constable of Lancashire and Elizabeth Neville, chief constable in Wiltshire.

Mrs Stichbury, 43, joined the Met as a graduate in 1977 and most of her operational service has been in London. She will take up her new post when the current chief constable, Dirk Aldous, retires in May.

Man remanded on three murder charges

A 21-year-old man has been committed for crown court trial charged with the murders of three pensioners.

Stephen Akinmurele appeared before magistrates in Blackpool, Lancashire, accused of the killings of Eric Boardman, 77, his wife Joan, 74, whose bodies were found at their home in the resort on 29 October last year, and Jemimah Cargill, 75, who died in a house fire in the town earlier in the month.

Two further charges that he murdered pensioners Marjorie Ashton, 72, and Dorothy Harris, 68, on the Isle of Man in 1995 and 1996 were adjourned until next month.

Akinmurele, of Cheltenham Road, North Shore, Blackpool, was committed to Preston Crown Court, where he will appear to plead to the first three murder charges, on 19 April.

He was remanded in custody to appear before magistrates on the other two charges on 16 April.

British humour tops poll

British TV sitcoms such as Men Behaving Badly and Absolutely Fabulous have been voted funnier than their US counterparts, in a new survey of what makes the British laugh.

Nearly two-thirds of people quizzed in the poll by BT said British comedies were funnier, while only 14% thought that American shows such as Frasier and Friends had the edge.

Both sexes found men funnier than women. Only 11% of men nominated their wives or girlfriends as the funniest people they knew, while almost 20% of women chose their husbands or boyfriends.

People from Merseyside and Manchester were voted the funniest in the country, with residents of East Anglia coming last.