A fraudster has been jailed for claiming £45,000 in benefits by pretending to be a single parent.

Charles Lwanga, 44, of South Croydon, lied about looking after his son - who actually lived overseas.

The deception allowed him to claim £45,175.46 in housing and council tax benefit between December 2008 to July 2013.

But he was eventually rumbled by Croydon Council's anti-fraud team in a data-matching exercise.

Lwanga, of Southbridge Road, was jailed for eight months at Croydon Crown Court on Thursday after admitting four counts of fraud by dishonesty.

Councillor Simon Hall, cabinet member for finance and treasury, said: "Lwanga’s custodial sentence should serve as a deterrent to others who are thinking of stealing from the public purse.

"That tiny minority of benefit claimants who deliberately lie when claiming benefits should realise that fraud is a serious offence, and that they will be punished in the courts."