A 37-year-old man who disappeared during investigations into a £46,000 benefit fraud has been jailed for 22 months.

Kashif Butt was to face charges earlier this year alongside the mother of his five children Sarah Butt.

However, during a trip to Pakistan the authorities received what purported to be a death certificate from a hospital in his name.

Mrs Butt, 28, was jailed for 18 months at St Albans Crown Court in June for claiming benefits from Watford Borough Council, while living in a £275,000 house the couple bought in Sandringham Road, Watford.

At the same time Mr Butt was said to have paid cash for a £25,000 station wagon while depositing thousands of pounds at a time in bank accounts from undisclosed sources.

Butt was found by police living in Imperial Way, Hemel Hempstead, and had been remanded in custody until he was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty to all seven counts of benefit fraud and two bail offences.

Imposing sentence Recorder Howell QC said: “This was a serious and persistent fraud in which you Kashif Butt and your wife received £46,507 in housing and council tax benefit over four years.

“You Mr Butt were engaged in a business, purchased a valuable house and bought an expensive luxury car.

“The only sentence I can pass having considered the guidelines and late plea, your previous convictions and bail offence, is one of immediate custody.”

Butt and his wife had bought a four-bed £275,000 house and claimed to be renting it to continue receiving benefits while they had around £100,000 in various bank accounts.

All the time Kashif Butt said he was earning just £256.53 a month as a warehouseman for Rainbow Plastics Limited, when he was driving around in a £25,000 station wagon he paid cash for, was depositing thousands of pounds at a time and owned the lease on a shop.

During the time the couple were living in Berry Lane, Watford, Mr Butt took out a lease on a mini-supermarket in Leavesden Road, Watford.

In 2006 a four-bedroom semi-detached house was bought in Sandringham Road in Mrs Butt's name, which the couple claimed to be renting from a Mrs S Butler to enable them to rake in more benefits.

When investigators became suspicious they produced a fake shorthold tenancy agreement in an attempt to cover their deception.

Mrs Butt's name was on the mortgage application stating she was a post office manager at the Leavesden Road shop, while informing the council she was unemployed.

Up to £20,000 a time was being deposited into accounts, and counting only amounts of £500 and over the prosecution said a figure “in excess” of £100,000 was paid in from “undisclosed sources”.

An allegation of perverting the course of justice in relation to the fake death certificate is being investigated by police.