A LETTING agent has been jailed for helping to cheat Bromley council out of £35,000.

Patrick Owen Osewa, 44, provided his accomplice Ruth Smith, 45, with a false tenancy agreement to obtain housing benefits for a home in Barnfield Road, Orpington.

Under the name of Donna Marie Idris, Smith was also the tenant of a council flat in Bermondsey that she had sublet and has since been repossessed.

She was jailed for two years in January for her part in the scam.

Osewa, who ran PJ Accommodation, in Rye Lane, Peckham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defrauding the council, at Croydon Crown Court.

Judge Ellis said the crime was so serious that it warranted an immediate custodial sentence. Osewa had been in custody since a jury found him guilty in June.

Financial investigators together with Bromley police have applied through the Proceed of Crime Act to recover the £35,000 overpayment of benefits.

Cllr Stephen Carr, leader of Bromley council, said: "We welcome this tough sentence imposed by the courts which sends a message to fraudsters that they can be severely dealt with."