A convicted benefit cheat who defrauded taxpayers across London has been ordered to hand over £77,000 or face more jail time.

David Bowry, from Tooting, was caught by Wandsworth Council fraud investigators in 2006 after they discovered he made fraudulent benefit claims to four different councils.

He organised a series of scams from an office in the attic of his £275,000 home in Cowick Road that netted him tens of thousands of pounds in unlawful housing benefit claims made to Wandsworth, Sutton, Croydon and Newham councils.

Bowry, who was studying for a law degree at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to 17 offences of dishonesty when he appeared at Croydon Crown Court in June 2007. He was jailed for 16 months.

But now in a separate legal case brought by financial investigators at the Department for Work and Pensions, Bowry has been ordered to hand back £76,690 to taxpayers by the beginning of July this year, including just over £17,000 to Wandsworth Council.

If he does not pay he has been told to expect another 18 months in custody.

The case against Bowry was brought under The Proceeds of Crime Act, which aims to stop criminals profiting from their crimes.

Coun Martin D Johnson, Wandsworth's executive member for housing, said: "Mr Bowry now has a stark choice. Either he pays up his ill-gotten gains or else he spends another 18 months behind bars."

Anyone with information about benefit fraud should call the council's benefit investigation service on 020 8871 7067 or the Fraud Hotline free on 0800 328 6340.