A Southall resident has been jailed for cheating Ealing Council out of more than £45,000 in housing benefit.

Saima Chaudry, 33, of Cornwall Avenue, Southall, was sentenced to three months in prison for 10 counts of dishonestly obtaining benefit when she appeared before Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, 9 November 2007.

She had pleaded guilty to the offences at Acton Magistrates’ Court on 13 September.

She has only repaid just £108.00 of the £45,857.90 she stole between July 2001 and June 2006.

Saima Chaudry, married with two children, had been claiming housing benefit and failed to declare that her landlord was actually a close relative. She chose to withhold this information and pocketed the benefit she wasn’t entitled to.

Between 2001 and 2003 she was lived at a property owned by her husband’s brother in Dormers Avenue, Southall. From September 2003 she was lived at a property owned by her brother in Cornwall Avenue, Southall.

Councillor David Scott, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance, said: “These fraudsters will be prosecuted and they will be made to pay back every penny they owe.”

“This is a warning to others, if you try to cheat the Council, as well as honest and hard-working tax payers, we will catch up with you.”