A fraudster tenant who secretly sub-let out her London council flat for £1,175 a month was actually living in Swansea when she tried to purchase it through the right to buy scheme.

The woman was caught out during the verification process when an inspector made unannounced visits to the flat in St John's Wood and found someone else living there.

Her case is among the right to buy frauds uncovered by Westminster City Council's fraud team.

Labour councillor David Boothroyd has said figures revealing more than half of all recent right to buy applications made in Westminster are fraudulent show it's time for the controversial scheme to go.

Right to buy established the opportunity for longstanding council tenants to buy their flats at a discounted price.

However the scheme attracted criticism as the properties were later sold in the private market, with much of the council stock housing sold around the UK never replaced.

In the case highlighted to Westminster councillors this month, it emerged the tenant had not lived in the Scott Ellis Gardens flat for nearly two years.

She had been letting the property to a variety of renters. The council's investigators even finding the rental advertised on listings website Gumtree.

She was successfully prosecuted at Southwark Crown Court this July for her fraudulent attempt to buy the home in 2016.

She received suspended prison sentences of 12 months and 18 months in relation to four counts of fraud. She was also ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

The council is now seeking to recoup £23,780 in rent she received, and has let out the home to someone in need.

Councillor David Boothroyd has said that the right to buy scheme has helped to lead to a big gap in available social housing

The case was among dozens of instances right to buy fraud uncovered in Westminster, noted in the report to the council's audit and performance committee on November 14.

It said there had been 21 proven cases of right to buy fraud in the first half of 2018/19 alone.

The counter-fraud team said suspicion was usually raised by a tenant's eligibility or financial status. In many cases it was uncovered when the tenant voluntarily withdrew their application once checks started.

Cllr Boothroyd delivered a speech to the full council earlier this month highlighting the fraud rates as he urged the council to focus on replacing the lost social-rent stock.

He highlighted to councillors government figures for 2017-18 showing there were 20 completed right to buy sales in Westminster, while the council's own figures showed its counter-fraud team had stopped 57 applications in the same period.

Cllr Boothroyd said "affordable" housing was out of reach of people even on average London salaries, and that right to buy had contributed to the gap in truly affordable council housing.

"It wasn’t an accident that almost no council homes have been built since the 1980s; it was an explicit government policy in the 1987 Housing White Paper, largely unreformed since then. And why build homes that someone can then force you to sell at a substantial discount under the right to buy?"

Housing leader Cllr Andrew Smith said Westminster was on track to provide a range of affordable housing options via its infill programme and estate regenerations, set to produce thousands of new homes.

He said the right to buy figures Cllr Boothroyd highlighted showed the council was scrutinising applications carefully.

"I think the point he is making is, actually; we do have very robust efforts to try and stop fraud.

"It's something we’re constantly aware of, and something we’re investing quite a lot of resources into, and we are absolutely determined to ensure those applications that do get through are genuine."