A fraudster has been jailed after admitting stealing personal data to create fake ID documents on a "significant scale".

Andrei Sergejev, 41, of Howard Road, Walthamstow pleaded guilty last month to possession drugs and 12 counts of fraud.

Yesterday he was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court to four years and nine months in jail.

The Estonian national was arrested at his home in March 2012 after investigators discovered he was trading in compromised financial data online.

Analysis of Sergejev’s computer uncovered data including utility bills and bank statements in numerous names.

He is believed to have been was compiling false ID packages for criminals to use in financial fraud, and to facilitate international travel using false documents.

Also found at Sergejev’s address were large numbers of hard copy financial and identity documents in different names, as well as £2,000 in cash.

Sergejev pleaded guilty last month to twelve charges of making an article used in fraud.

A two year sentence for possession of articles used in fraud will run concurrently.

Steve Pye, of the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Once again, a criminal has found that operating online under an assumed name was not enough to escape the attentions of law enforcement.

“Sergejev was facilitating fraud on a significant scale, and this type of criminality comes at a significant cost to businesses and individuals in the UK.”