A fraudster with no fewer than 32 identities ratcheted up £400,000 in a complex web of deceit.

Paul Reppion, 49, managed to obtain more than 200 credit cards and sign up for 50 bank accounts, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

It's believed the fraud, which saw him jailed for two years and four months, dated back as far as 2003.

The sting gave Reppion, of Sir John Fogge Avenue in Ashford, a luxury lifestyle, with a number of properties and a lucrative six-figure income, the court heard.

Police were alerted to the conman after a tip-off from Ashford Borough Council.

A search of his home in November 2009 uncovered numerous items in a variety of names. These included two photo ID driving licences under different names.

Two computer disks seized contained more than 1,000 financial documents.

Each document had a reference containing the initials of the false identity used.

When arrested on suspicion of money laundering Reppion told police his name was Paul Thomas, as he had changed his name by deed poll three years earlier.

The police investigation found he had, in fact, changed his name several times by deed poll - each time building up a complex identity at the source of his fraud.

After racking up huge debt in each identity he abandoned the name when firms refused to give more credit, the court heard. That left the lenders with a cold trail to a false identity.

The court heard Reppion used addresses he bought as a landlord, as well as redirecting mail to a web of homes.

Detective Constable Stuart Champion said: "This investigation has identified a fraud carried out by Reppion over a number of years that at its heart has abused the electoral registration system in a methodical and calculated way, designed to deceive various banks in order to satisfy his greed."

Reppion admitted obtaining services by deception at an earlier hearing.