Couple admits yachting on government dime

SWANSEA, Wales, March 21 (UPI) -- A couple who sailed the Atlantic on a yacht while claiming government benefits in Britain have been sentenced to jail by a judge in Wales.

Shashi Bacheta, 52, and Jeffrey Cole, 59, pleaded guilty Friday in Crown Court in Swansea, The Independent reported.

Bacheta acknowledged that, while she claimed to be living in Swansea unable to walk, she was traveling around the Atlantic on Cole's yacht. She went scuba diving in Kenya and swimming with dolphins in the Canary Islands.

She received a 21-month prison term because she claimed more benefits than Cole, who got nine months.

The couple were arrested last year after investigators found a picture on the Internet that showed them on the yacht. At the time, they were planning another long trip, traveling across the United States in a recreational vehicle.