A benefit cheat who raked in £90,000 and tried to swindle his mother out of her flat has been jailed.

William Anthony created a second identity using a fake passport to swindle taxpayers’ money for more than five years.

The 59-year-old tried to take over his elderly mother’s council flat in Kensington and Chelsea when she went into a nursing home.

He claimed he lived with his mother and submitted false paperwork in a bid to get his hands on her home but was found to be living and falsely claiming benefit for a property in Waverly Avenue, Whitton, in 2011.

Anthony then claimed to Kensington and Chelsea that he was homeless.

A joint investigation by Richmond Council, Kensington and Chelsea, and the Department for Work and Pensions, revealed the sums of cash Anthony pocketed.

He claimed £55,886 in income support and disability living allowance, plus £21,721 in housing benefits since 2007.

Anthony pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by false representation, one charge of theft by false representation and one charge of possessing identity documents with intent.

He was sentenced at to two years imprisonment at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, August 5.

Richmond’s deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, Councillor Geoffrey Samuel, said: “This man is parasitic, he deserves to serve every second of his prison sentence, and many people will think he should have got longer.

“His fraud took £90,000 from vulnerable people who are in desperate need of help and he even turned on his own mother.

“This prosecution sends a clear message to anyone who dares to commit benefit fraud or is considering such a cowardly act – we will find you, we will stop you, we will prosecute you, and we will do everything in our power to see that you receive an adequate penalty.”