A cheeky illegal immigrant who got himself a genuine British passport under a stolen name challenged police to find out who he really is.

The shameless Nigerian also used the identity of a real Briton, 26-year-old Mohammed Suleyman, to get a council flat which he sublet for cash.

Over a period of five years, he defrauded banks and credit card companies out of more than £6,000.

But even after being sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, 'Suleyman' still refused to reveal his true identity.

He will be deported back to Nigeria when he completes his sentence.

The fraudster, who is in his 30s and lived in Erith, south-east London, managed to illegally stay in the UK by falsely using a copy of Suleyman's birth certificate.

The genuine Mohammed Suleyman was born in 1981 in Islington hospital and has not yet been traced by police.

'Suleyman' also stole the identity details and passport number of a woman he had never met and falsely used it to authorise his passport application.

The UK passport service only raised suspicions when it realised it had sent his passport to an address associated with a known fraudster.

The jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court took just 15 minutes to find 'Suleyman' guilty on May 4.

Detective Constable Neil Taylor, of The Met's Operation Maxim, led the investigation.

He said: "This still unidentified Nigerian man was convinced he had duped the authorities for some five years into believing he was Mohammed Suleyman.

"This considerable sentence handed down by the judge reflects the seriousness with which the courts treat the abuse of a single document, in this case, a British Passport."

Operation Maxim specialises in organised crime against the UK's immigration service and works in areas such as human trafficking, human smuggling and counterfeit document abuse.