FORMER Wisbech residents Jane and Artan Dida face debt recovery action after admitting a �33,000 benefits fraud.

Both were given suspended sentences after admitting a total of 21 charges between them.

The Didas, now of Williams Street, Kings Lynn, appeared at Cambridge Crown Court, where they admitted all charges.

Artan Dida pleaded guilty to seven offences under the Theft Act 1968 and the Social Security Administration Act 1992 whilst Jane Dida pleaded guilty to 14 offences under the Social Security Administration Act 1992.

Fenland Council investigators discovered that between April 2003 and March 2009, they fraudulently claimed and received benefits totalling over �33,000.

It had also been established that Artan Dida had worked under a false identity having arrived in the UK the late 1990’s.

The court was told that Dida first entered the UK in 1999 illegally and used an assumed name when he moved to Wisbech and found a job.

He struck up a relationship with Jane White and she gave birth to his child in 2001 and two years later they got married.

However in 2004 Dida left Britain following an immigration crack down but re-entered using his correct name and moved back in with his wife.

And whilst he went back to work, his wife continued to claim benefits as a single parent.

When his wife’s income support ended in 2008, Dida claimed various benefits but failed to declare the fact that he was still working and carried on working using his previous identity.

Each was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, suspended for two years, and Artan Dida was also ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. His wife was told to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

A council spokesman added that the overpayment is recoverable in full and action under the Proceeds of Crime Act will result in a further hearing in May.