Almost £1.5m is to be collected from benefit cheats across Oxfordshire thanks to a clampdown by fraud investigators.

In the past financial year, teams working for Cherwell, Oxford, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire district councils have sent 58 fraudsters to court.

All will have to pay their fraudulent claims back in addition to court costs.

Councils also fined 64 people and cautioned 233 others who were conning the authorities.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said: "We place great importance on ensuring people receive the benefits they are entitled to and in rooting out the cheats and frauds among landlords and tenants who knowingly take public money under false pretences.

"We are very pleased with the results of our fraud investigations in the past year."

Last year, county councillor Olive McIntosh- Stedman, 65, of Williamson Way, Rose Hill, was found guilty of making a false statement to obtain council tax benefit.

McIntosh-Stedman, who represents Cowley and Littlemore, failed to declare her monthly NHS pension, a savings account and a County Hall allowance on her benefit forms in 2002.

This led to her being overpaid by more than £3,000, though she has since repaid the money.

She was given 50 hours' unpaid community work and told to pay £5,000 costs.

Oxford City Council, which took the case to court, wanted her to pay £14,000 — the cost of bringing the case before a jury.

She was expelled from the Labour party and is now an independent councillor.

She said: "I am a hard working person and I never wanted to get money without working. The wording of the forms is never easy and they are hard to decipher, but you fill them out as best you can and it's easy to forget things."

Carol Quainton, investigating manager at Oxford City Council, said 50 per cent of those caught in Oxfordshire were uncovered thanks to data matching. This is when an individual's records are checked against different Government and local authority data to search for anomalies.

She added: "Fraudsters leave a trail of information that's available to the investigation teams."

A Vale district council spokesman said £1.5m was the highest amount ever collected by the county's fraud teams.

Vale district councillor Jerry Patterson, executive member for finance, said: "Benefit fraud is a very big problem affecting taxpayers throughout Oxfordshire. With the support of people across the county we can continue putting a stop to it."

South Oxfordshire district councillor Rodney Mann said: "The message to benefit fraudsters is clear — we will not tolerate cheats."

Dave Lansleycorr, advice services manager at Oxford's Citizens’ Advice Bureau, said: "We can give anyone under financial pressure advice or information or help them negotiate with their creditors.

"There are much better alternatives to dealing with your debt than claiming benefits fraudulently."

Anyone who suspects a benefit cheat should contact the fraud hotline on 0800 3286340.