A CATERHAM couple have been jailed for stealing £188k in a seven-year benefit scam.
Nicole Mwamba, 48, and William Kapuya, 47, of Campbell Road were found guilty at Croydon Crown Court last month of a combined 18 offences relating to benefit fraud between 2004 and 2011.
The money was used to buy properties and make mortgage repayments.
Mwamba claimed housing and council tax benefit, yet failed to tell Croydon Council that 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 that she was living with her partner in crime and husband Kapuya.
Mwamba told Tandridge District Council that she was a tenant at the Campbell Road, Caterham address, even inventing a landlord alias called Nikole Kapuya.
She also used a Belgian national's details to claim housing benefit.
Meanwhile Kapuya committed a series of fraud offences by claiming benefits while failing to tell the 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 occasion 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.
Their crimes came to light following an investigation by the two councils and the DPW.
Cabinet member for finance and treasury Councillor Simon Hall said: "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."
Nicole Mwamba was sentenced to 30 months in prison and William Kapuya for 14 months.
