A TAMIL family ripped off council tax payers to the tune of £168,000 but drove a Mercedes, a BMW and a Porsche.

One of the seven defendants fainted as four jail terms and three suspended sentences were handed to the group at Harrow Crown Court by Judge Graham Arran today.

They bought five houses, including two in Clayton Avenue, Wembley, and one in Minehead Road, South Harrow, paying off the mortgages through false benefit claims.

They moved their relatives in as “tenants”, who used housing benefits to make the payments.

Premkumar Pathmanathan, 44, was one of two family members who owned the neighbouring houses in Clayton Avenue, but was claiming benefits as a tenant at the house in Harrow.

Judge Arran said the plan was hatched by the family as a whole and said those who face trial continually lied to the jury, getting together to agree their testimonies each day.

He said: “It was based on greed and never upon need. The purpose was to acquire property which was paid for in fraudulently claimed benefits.”

He added: “One of the unpleasant features of the lying in this case was the willingness to blame people who could not answer back because they had died.”

Kalaivany Premkumar, 40, a tenant at one of the Wembley houses, was accompanied by a man when she was interviewed by the council, but after he later died she tried to pin responsibility for the fraud on him.

Her husband Premkumar Pathmanathan owned the property.

She was handed a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work.

He was handed a 14-month sentence, while Sivakumar Pathmanathan, 43, his brother, was handed a 15-month jail term and will spend half in prison and half on licence.

Sinniah Pathmanathan, 78, their father, was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Shamini Kowridas, 43, will serve half of a six month sentence while her husband Nalliah Kowridas, 43, will serve half of a 15 month sentence.

The family were brought down following a joint investigation by Brent and Harrow councils acting on an anonymous tip off.

Councillor Graham Henson, responsible for performance, customer services and corporate services at Harrow Council, said: “This was a cynical and premeditated scam by a family bent on living the high life while honest taxpayers footed the bill.

"We're therefore very pleased with the court's decision and will now be taking steps to recover the money and return it to the public purse.

“In these tough economic times its essential housing benefit goes to those people in real need, and not to fraudsters driving around in Porsches and BMWs.”

Councillor Muhammed Butt, responsible for resources at Brent Council, said: "This was a challenging case involving many months of diligent investigation work by my investigators unpicking a complicated web of deceit.”