A company director who fraudulently claimed almost £7,000 in benefits has been ordered to do 250 hours community service.

Jeremy Osei-Asamoah, of Durrington Tower, Wandsworth Road, Lambeth, claimed to be earning just £65 a week as an employee of 4 Generation Computers, a company of which he was in fact a director.

He submitted false letters to Lambeth Council about his income that were purported to be signed by a director of the company, named ‘David Webster’, and used them to claim housing and council tax benefit between November 2007 and January 2010.

Lambeth Council fraud investigators became suspicious and made enquiries with Companies House and discovered Osei-Asamoah was the sole director of 4 Generation Computers.

No accounts had ever been filed for the company until its dissolution in April 2009, and when initially questioned he could not describe what ‘David Webster’ looked like.

He had used the false letters to claim £6,156 in housing benefit and £841.19 in council tax benefit.

Osei-Asamoah was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court on January 27 of seven count indictment of multiple counts of producing false documentation in support of a benefit claim.

On February 20 he was given a 4 month custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.

Councillor Paul McGlone, cabinet member for finance, said: "People who claim benefits they are not entitled to are stealing from the public purse and we will pursue those who do so relentlessly through the courts.

"Our anti-fraud team is saving council tax payers hundreds of the thousands of pounds a year by rooting out and cracking down on the cheats, vital funds that can instead be used to protect key services."

If you have any information about someone you suspect to be committing benefit fraud you can call Lambeth Council’s anti-fraud hotline on 020 7926 1111.