THE leader of a gang who stole more than £191,000 in a sophisticated money laundering ring was last night behind bars.

Oxford Crown Court heard Demosthenes Barroso, of Northfield Close, in Littlemore, Oxford, was the leader of a gang who opened numerous bank accounts using false identities and forged documents to steal benefit cash.

David Ross, prosecuting, said the group changed the names and amounts on giro cheques stolen in London's postal system and fraudulently claimed £94,524 from the Department of Work and Pensions.

He explained they also made false tax credit claims worth £97,353 from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs using addresses in Cowley Road and Agnes Court, Oxford.

Government officials traced the cheques during an 18-month investigation spanning six police forces and placed Barroso under surveillance.

The court heard they found his fingerprints on cheques in 19 different names and his handwriting on cheques in 46 different names.

Barroso, 34, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 2001, admitted two charges of conspiring to defraud between April 2003 and October 2006, but said it was on an ad-hoc basis and claimed he only pocketed £30,000. He was jailed for three years.

Nicholas Syfret, defending Barroso, said the worst offenders were those who actually stole the cheques and his client was not the real organiser.

Paolo Alexandre, 39, from Chingford, in Essex, admitted fraudulently handling cheques worth £1,700 and was handed a six-month suspended sentence and 200 hours' unpaid work.

Manuel Baltazar, 33, of Birmingham, admitted forging 45 cheques and was given an 18-month community rehabilitation order.

And Mizel Kinanga, 26, of Bailey Road, Oxford, admitted possessing a fake Portuguese identity card and being concerned in an arrangement contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act.

He was given a six-month suspended sentence and 200 hours' unpaid work.

The court heard all the men all came from Angola.

Judge David Morton-Jack recommended Barroso was deported - saying he had defrauded a system "generous to refugees".

He said: "It was a massive conspiracy but the only principal player or organiser within the conspiracy is Barroso.

"The other three defend- ants were brought in to fulfil necessary but much lesser roles in respect of particular transactions but they were not involved in the big picture."

Addressing Barroso, he added: "Your involvement plainly involved a great deal of thoughtful and careful planning. It was sophisticated. You had no reason to involve yourself in this matter except selfish greed."

After the hearing, fraud investigator Mike Richards said it was the biggest case he had dealt with during his 12 years at the Department of Work and Pensions.

He said: "These are not your casual criminals - these are organised criminals with some resources behind them."

He added Barroso was planning to build a hotel in Angola with the cash.

Fraud minister James Plaskitt said: "We've served the 'go directly to jail' card to this cheating would-be hotelier.

"And after paying the penalty for abusing our hospitality, he'll be kicked out."