The victim of an identity theft and her partner are demanding action after £23,000 of cheques were written in her name.

Antoni Bajowski with some of the vast amount of paperwork

The cheques are the latest problem in a string of frauds in the name of Linda Phipps, who lives with her partner, Antoni Bajowski, in Green Ridges, Barton, Oxford.

The couple were featured in the Oxford Mail in October 2004, when fraudsters began opening credit card accounts in Miss Phipps' name.

Miss Phipps had received a Mint credit card and a pin number for a Barclay's credit card, neither of which she asked for.

She later got a letter from Capital One saying someone had tried to set up a card in her name.

A year on, they are no nearer solving the problem and are angry at the lack of action from police and Royal Mail.

They contacted Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who said: "This shows just what a nightmare it is when someone's identity is stolen and abused -- and highlights unacceptable delays in getting to the bottom of what happened.

"It's taken hours of painstaking detective work by Miss Phipps and Mr Bajowski and a stream of letters from me to extract even basic information from Royal Mail, the banks involved and the Information Commissioner."

Mr Smith has written to Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier and Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Peter Neyroud calling for a review of how the case has been handled.

He said he was also planning to raise the issue in Parliament.

Miss Phipps said: "We thought it had stopped -- then two months ago Mint got in touch with us because cheques for £23,000 had been written in my name.

"The police weren't very helpful, we kept ringing to ask what progress was being made, but we were given all sorts of excuses."

Mr Bajowski said: "We've been spending 10-15 hours per week working on this, doing work the police and Royal Mail should have been doing.

Miss Phipps said: "The police told us it was the Royal Mail and the Royal Mail told us it was the police who should deal with it, and that's how it went on."

Royal Mail spokesman Sue Dakin said they had advised Miss Phipps to contact the police.

She added: "We have huge sympathy for the customers and would try to support them in whatever way we can."

Thames Valley Police spokesman Kate Smith said: "There's a criminal investigation relating to this, being dealt with by Manchester Police, because it is believed the offender is in Manchester."