A Plumstead man who faked his identity using a woman’s passport in order to get social housing has been jailed for 22 months.

James Maties, 33, of Elmgrove Point, also used stolen credit cards to pay his council tax - before being caught by Greenwich Council officers.

He originally pleaded not guilty to seven charges of fraud and one charge under the Identity Documents Act 2010, but changed his plea to guilty before he was brought to trial.

Greenwich Council officers said Maties’ crimes were first picked up in November 2016 when banks alerted the council that more than £3,000 of council tax bills paid from his address were identified as fraudulent.

A council spokesman said: "Enquiries identified 15 debit card payments had been made to the Elmgrove Point Council Tax account totalling £3,180.04 and each of these had been made using a variety of stolen bank cards. It was evident that the only person to gain from the fraudulent payments was the liable person for Council Tax."

Council investigators traced the payments back to Maties, and in the process found that the Dutch passport he was using was also fake, with the true owner of the passport being a woman.

In January 2017 police and council investigators raided Maties' home and found bank cards relating to the false identity he had created to pay council tax with stolen cards.

Maties lived in the one-bedroom flat belonging to the ASRA Housing Group since December 2011 and had acquired it using his false identity, said the Greenwich Council spokesman.

On November 1, Maties changed his original not guilty plea to guilty at Woolwich Crown Court and was sentenced to 22 months behind bars.

Councillor Maureen O’Mara, cabinet member for customer services at Greenwhich Council, said: “This is another excellent result for the Royal Borough. Mr Maties was caught trying to pay his Council Tax using stolen bank cards and his greedy actions led him to be identified as a tenancy fraudster.

“Not only has he got a prison sentence of almost two years, but he had to pay back the £3,000 he tried to deceive from others and will now have no home to return to after his sentence is complete.

“The good news is that the ASRA property will now go to a person in genuine need of accommodation.”