A simple workaround to display an inline image would be to just define a new CSS class and allocate that class to the menu option.
CSS:
.backgroung_img {
background-image: url(../../../../images/check.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
Menu item:
<li> <a href="#" title="Web Design" class="backgroung_img">Web Design</a> </li>