A LITHUANIAN gang member who stole £3m of tax credits has been jailed for five years.

Ricardas Virokaitis, of Strongbow Road, Eltham, was sentenced at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty to conspiracy to cheat the public revenue.

The 37-year-old paid eastern european women to come to the UK solely to register for benefits and tax credits.

Virokaitis and his criminal colleagues escorted the women while they gained the necessary documentation to claim the fraudulent benefits.

The women then returned to their home country and the gang accessed their payments via bogus bank accounts.

More than 100 women were fraudulently registered for benefits and tax credits.

Before he was arrested Virokaitis was withdrawing up to £90,000 every month from the bogus accounts.

Simon Grunwell, assistant director of criminal investigation for HM Revenue and Customs, said: “Criminal gangs such as this are a menace who steal from honest taxpayers.

“HMRC is cracking down on fraud in the benefits system and the government has made a further £900 million available to us for tackling evasion, avoidance and attacks by criminal gangs.”

Other suspected members of the criminal gang have been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.