Rafik Cherirou pleaded guilty to stealing over £28,000.

The Jury heard yesterday how Mr Rafik Cherirou had used fake identities and false credit cards to make rent payments, in 2015.

He received housing benefits from three separate London boroughs; Hackney, Haringey and Wandsworth.

Sylvie Emperor, Miss H Belmessons and Federico Marcello were the three different names used to make rent payments to Metropolitan Housing.

All three of these identities were made up.

When police searched his home and car in 2015, they found counterfeit bank cards and statements, as well as £23,000 in cash stashed in the back of a wardrobe.

They also found the phone that was used to set up the accounts and contact the council.

Initially Rafik Cherirou denied involvement with any of the accounts or identities, and claimed the stashed cash had come from businesses he had sold previously.

But yesterday he pleaded guilty at the Inner London Crown Court.

The prosecution have asked for Cherirou to be fined £28,000; the full amount stolen by the defendant.

The judge is set to sentence Mr Cherirou on Friday.