A Penge man has avoided jail after trying to dupe Bromley Council into thinking he had cancer with fake doctor’s letters.

Marlon Brown, 34, of Derwent House, pleaded guilty to three offences of fraud at Croydon Crown Court on April 1, and was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years.

Brown admitted providing false letters from an unknown Royal Marsden cancer consultant in an attempt to support a rehousing application.

He provided three letters to the council between 2011 and 2014 claiming to be from his consultant.

The letters stated his rehousing application should be looked at as a matter of urgency as he suffered from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and his current address at Derwent House was unsuitable.

Brown “inundated” the council's housing department with emails threatening to go to the newspapers with his situation, often copying in the mayor, the CEO of the council and councillors.

MORE TOP STORIES He claimed he was living in “overcrowded” conditions as his partner and their two children also lived in the one-bed property, despite also claiming single-person discount on his council tax.

Suspicions arose after the third letter from the 'consultant' was received.

When a council housing officer contacted the hospital it confirmed it had never heard of Brown or the alleged consultant.

Rather than attend an interview under caution with fraud officers, he instead wrote letters denying he had anything to do with the rehousing application and maintained someone else acted on his behalf.

Brown elected for a trial at crown court after initially pleading not guilty in January, but changed his plea to guilty for the three fraud offences, but not guilty for a council tax offence which totalled £326.50.

Brown asked the judge not to be sent to prison, and apologised for his actions saying he was ashamed of himself.

He was ordered to pay £1,500 of Bromley Council's costs and to undertake 100 hours’ unpaid work as well as his suspended sentence after the judge deemed it a “sophisticated fraud”.

A council spokesperson said: "We welcome this successful prosecution as it involves a false application for housing which, had it succeeded, could have resulted in a property being allocated to a fraudster at the expense of a family in genuine need."