A married couple are behind bars after falsely claiming nearly £200,000 in benefit frauds over a seven year period.
Nicole Mwamba, 48, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after being found guilty of three counts of fraud, five counts of making false representation and three instances of failing to notify a change in circumstances.
Her husband William Kapuya, 47, was found guilty of five counts of fraud and two counts of making false representation. He will serve 14 months.
The couple, both of Campbell Road, Caterham, were last month found guilty at Croydon Crown Court of a combined 18 offences.
Their complex web of deceit saw them rake in £188,000 between 2004 and 2011.
Mwamba claimed housing and council tax benefit, without telling Croydon Council she had bought and held mortgages for two properties, in Beulah Grove, Selhurst, and Campbell Road, Caterham.
She told the council she lived in Langdale Road, Thornton Heath, and failed to declare she was living with Kapuya.
Mwamba told Tandridge Council that she was a tenant in Campbell Road, even inventing a landlord alias called Nikole Kapuya.
In a separate instance, she used a Belgian national's details to claim housing benefit.
Meanwhile Kapuya claimed benefits while failing to tell authorities that he was living with Mwamba.
Instead he told Croydon Council on one occasion that he was residing in Ferndale Road, South Norwood, and needed rehousing, while on another said he lived alone in Partridge Knoll, Purley.
And when applying for a severe disability premium, Kapuya told the Department for Work and Pensions that he didn't live with his partner.
Councillor Simon Hall, cabinet member for finance and treasury, said: "This fraud was only exposed following a very complex investigation, so it is a credit to all involved in the prosecution for bringing this case to a successful conclusion.
"These two individuals cheated the taxpayer out of a colossal sum of money by claiming they were single people with no sources of income or capital.
"It serves as a lesson to other fraudsters out there that you will be caught, and made to pay back the benefits you have illegally claimed."
