A Greedy Keighley businessman who cheated the benefits system out of £18,000 has been jailed for 21 months.

And the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) -- speaking exclusively to the Keighley News yesterday -- vowed to pursue its own recovery action to ensure the full amount was repaid.

Father-of-three Shabir Ahmed was involved in various businesses, including a pizza takeaway in Lawkholme Crescent, Keighley, a property redevelopment company called Pegasus and a private hire taxi firm.

He drove around in a Suzuki 4x4 and had even bought a personalised number plate.

But the 37-year-old claimed to be unemployed, and also obtained housing benefit on the basis that his partner was his landlady and that he was paying her rent to live at their then home in South Edge, Keighley.

In addition, Ahmed claimed an allowance for looking after his father.

Last October, Ahmed, of Gain Lane, Thornbury, Bradford, admitted 53 offences of obtaining property by deception. But his sentence was delayed after he later tried to change his guilty pleas.

The offences related to claims for income support, invalid care allowance and housing benefit over a period between January 1998 and August 2001.

Investigators had received an anonymous tip-off about Ahmed's activities and following his arrest in September, 2001, they discovered thousands of pounds in cash and documents relating to an American Express card.

Prosecutor Paul Taylor told the Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, on Wednesday, that Ahmed had got a "double hit" out of the taxpayer when he bought a semi-derelict pizza premises.

He successfully applied with a business partner for a regeneration grant of £10,000, but the improvement work was actually carried out by his firm Pegasus.

Ahmed, who now says he is unemployed and suffering from depression, maintained that other people had been using his name and address, and he had no real involvement in the businesses.

His barrister Nikki Peers submitted that most of the cash seized belonged to other members of his family and other cash was the takings from the pizza business.

The prosecution applied for a confiscation order against Ahmed in a total sum of £19,563.55 -- which includes interest -- and after legal arguments Judge Gullick concluded that he did have realisable assets totalling about £45,000. The judge said that amount was made up of some £8,700 in cash, which was seized on his arrest, a share of £11,500 following the sale of the property in South Edge and £25,000 from the sale of the pizza premises.

But Miss Peers said her client's position was that he had no means of paying that sum. Judge Gullick said failure to pay the amount would result in a further period of 10 months in custody.

He also made an order that Ahmed should pay £10,000 towards the prosecution costs.

Miss Peers told the court that press coverage of Ahmed's case had badly affected him.

"He says he is utterly humiliated by his appearances at court and has lost any respect which he has had in the community," she said.

But Judge Gullick told Ahmed: "This was, in my judgement, a clear and deliberate attempt by a man of some means to defraud the system, whereby support is given to those who are less fortunate than you in our society."

He said Ahmed had made claims when he had a substantial income to support himself and added: "This was no application by someone which began as honest and descended into dishonesty for whatever reason. This was, in my judgement, downright dishonest from day one."

A DWP spokesman said: "Benefit fraud touches everyone and affects every household because it relates to money that could be used to improve other essential services such as health and education.

"In addition to penalties imposed by the court, the DWP will pursue its own recovery action to ensure that the full amount of money stolen from the benefits system is repaid in full."