a working mother-of-four being sent to jail for a day.

Magistrate Arthur Hodgson explained he did not send 28-year-old Tanya Durham to prison because she failed to pay a debt, but for contempt of court.

Mr. Hodgson also claimed the Sandys Parish woman gave false reports to both The Royal Gazette and ZBM in order to gain pity.

Durham told reporter Gareth Finighan that she had spent February 27 in Police custody after failing to pay a $200 medical bill.

When she was released from the Hamilton Police Station at 6 p.m., Durham said she arrived home to find her four children unattended in the pouring rain.

Durham also told The Royal Gazette that she was only in debt because magistrates refused to order her former partner to keep up with child support, of which she said he owed $9,000.

During a morning hearing yesterday, her story changed and Durham claimed she did not tell "anyone'' she was sentenced to jail because of debt nor that her former partner owed $9,000.

"I don't know where they got their information from, but I did not say those things,'' she said.

Mr. Hodgson yesterday stressed that he sent Durham to prison for disobeying a court order, not for failing to pay a debt.

"You (Durham) told the media that you were locked up for owing $200,'' Mr.

Hodgson said. "But the courts do not have the right to send anyone to jail for debts. You really went to jail for contempt of court.'' Mr. Hodgson was referring to a King Edward VII Memorial Hospital bill that Durham incurred in 1992.

He explained that Durham was ordered on June 28, 1995 by Acting Magistrate Michael Smith to pay $10 a week on the medical bill, but made no effort to repay even after the court had ordered her.

Mr. Hodgson also verified that Durham's former partner owed some $4,000 in child support payments, not $9,000 as originally printed in The Royal Gazette and he had in fact paid $1,650 since last November.

Mr. Hodgson gave Durham the opportunity to "work something out'' with her creditors before her next court appearance on April 9.