A married couple from Harrow have been jailed for committing insurance fraud which spanned more than a decade.

Rehman Kahn, 61, and Shagufta Kahn, 56, both of Greenleaf Way, Harrow, made more than £18,000 worth of fraudulent claims on their Simplyhealth policies between January 2002 and February 2012.

They plead guilty to fraud by false representation in March, and were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment at the Old Bailey on Monday shortly after being made to pay back the full sum.

In 2013 a routine audit of their account revealed a number of invoices which, when investigated, proved to be fraudulent.

After further investigation, it became clear that both Rehman and Shagufta had been submitting false claims throughout the duration of their policies.

The case was referred to detectives from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), who arrested the couple in January 2014.

Over the course of ten years, the pair submitted 245 claims for treatment they said they had received at various medical centres.

Investigating officers found they had been altering genuine invoices in order to receive bigger pay-outs, and in many cases had simply fabricated claims entirely.

Various documents, templates and fake invoices were found on computers that were seized from their home address. Officers also found the “paid” stamps they used in order to give the impression of authenticity to their invoices.

Financial investigator Simon Styles, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, said: “Rehman and Shagufta carried out their fraud over a number of years and went to great lengths to try and avoid detection, going as far as buying stamps to try and give the invoices an air of authenticity.

“They were also claiming for relatively small amounts each time as they thought it would keep their criminality under the radar. They thought they would get away with it but they were caught out in the end and they now face the prospect of many months behind bars.

“This case should serve as a stark warning to anyone thinking about committing insurance fraud that we will investigate and, if you’re found to have acted criminally, then you could end up at court and facing a prison sentence.”