A TOWN Hall fraudster who conned Camden Council out of £20,000 was jailed along with his accomplice on Friday.
Rates inspector Neil Messer, 40, faces nine months in jail while accomplice Jason Procter, 37, must serve 15 months.
Proctor, of Maida Vale, and Messer, of Hemel Hempstead, worked in tandem to cheat the council out of business rates by falsely claiming a series of firms had closed to repair flood damage.
Proctor was a convicted drug dealer who acted as an ‘agent’ for the businesses, making the false claims, while Messer processed them at the Town Hall in the knowledge they were false.
Detective Sergeant Keith Bright, who led the investigation, said: “The success of this prosecution is an example of the Metropolitan Police Service working together with local authorities to root out corrupt practices in local government, and bring those responsible to justice.”