An Enfield couple who looted the public purse by stealing identities to fund a lavish lifestyle were jailed at the Old Bailey on Monday.

Husband and wife team, Steven Ayonkoya, 44, and Adesola Adelana, 39, hijacked at least 37 personal identities in a tax credit and benefit scam that lasted for five years - from 1999 until 2004.

Masters graduate, Ayonkoya, used his position as assistant manager of Enfield's Provident Row Housing Association to access and then steal all the details he required to fill his pockets with cash intended for needy families in the borough.

Adelana exploited her sister's position at the Young Christain Women's Association to obtain the personal details of vulnerable people.

In total the pair who lived in Larmans Road, Ponders End, made £350,000 from the swindle.

The Nigerian couple, who were helped in their scam by an accomplice at the department of Work and Pensions, used the profits of their crime to buy two houses which they kitted out with the latest electronic kit, such as plasma televisions and expensive furniture.

They also used taxpayers cash to send their children to private school, purchase a hair salon in north London and splash out on a Lexus car.

The fraud was exposed after police raided the properties and uncovered reams of damning documents, such as fake photo cards, driving licences, Inland Revenue giro books and Government memo's.

Sentencing the duo to four years in prison, judge Stephen Robbins said: "Identity fraud is causing increasing public concern and the courts must come down hard on those who commit such crimes. Your behaviour shocked and distressed innocent people."

Both face deportation upon their release from jail.