A FRAUD investigator described how a respected businesswoman, who owned a boat, two properties and 23 bank accounts, was caught fraudulently claiming £30,000 in benefits.

Deirdre Hynes, 51, faces jail unless she pays more than £200,000 to Croydon Council and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Hynes falsely claimed £30,000 over a nine-year period while running three businesses, including a company exporting tea to Japan.

Last Friday, Croydon Council was granted a confiscation order, allowing them to reclaim money based on her true wealth.

The decision, made at Croydon Crown Court, was the culmination of a three-year investigation by the council's audit and anti-fraud team.

Investigations manager David Hogan said: "In terms of greed this is one of the most serious cases I have seen.

"She is a successful businesswoman who doesn't have any previous convictions but chose to lead a life of crime purely out of greed.

"Hynes thought she would get the taxpayer to pay her rent and mortgage and that she would never get caught."

At a hearing at Croydon Crown Court earlier this year, Hynes admitted 11 counts of making false representations and was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for 18 months.

The court heard how Hynes began claiming £6-a-week from the discretionary housing payment fund in 1996.

She declared herself a single person who was renting a room in Melfort Road, Thornton Heath and declared two further moves to addresses in Croydon, each time resubmitting the same fraudulent benefit claims.

The council began to investigate Hynes in 2007, after it was discovered she had been paid £8,000 into an undeclared bank account.

An eight-strong anti-fraud team worked closely with HMRC officers on Hynes' case.

Data showed she had large amounts of savings, and statements for an undeclared account showed she had made substantial deposits, including one for more than £57,000. Hynes, vice president of the Speakers of Croydon club, was interviewed by police and admitted the true extent of her wealth.

Officers from the Met's payback unit found she had brought a property in Croydon, valued in 2006 at £240,000, with a £135,0000 deposit.

They also found evidence of 23 other banks accounts, shares and assets totalling £320,152.

These assets were all declared the "proceeds of crime" as Hynes had failed to inform the council of her wealth when she made her original benefit claims.

Mr Hogan said: "She thought that what she was doing was beyond detection. When we interviewed her you could tell she was shocked at how far the authority could reach into her personal information. Given the level of intelligence of this woman you would expect better."

Hynes has been ordered to hand over £202,634.79.

Croydon Council will get the £30,000 she took in benefits, with the rest going to the treasury.

Her case features in Saints and Scroungers on BBC1 next month, which follows officers as they hunt for benefit thieves.