A benefit cheat caught living “a life of Riley” on the island paradise of Sri Lanka has been ordered to repay more than £30,000 of his ill-gotten gains.

Brian Riley, 59, was jailed for eight months in November 2008 for ripping off the British taxpayer to the tune of £22,000.

Riley claimed income support, council tax benefit and disability allowance for more than three years by pretending he was living in Newark Street, West Bowling, Bradford.

A Court heard he was pocketing the British benefits while he was actually living in his house in Sri Lanka after leaving England in February 2005.

He worked as a part-time organiser for the Anglo Lanka Foundation in the wake of the 2004 tsunami disaster.

Riley married a Sri Lankan woman in March 2007.

He returned to Britain because of health problems, moving to an address in Delamere Street, Marshfields, Bradford.

Riley pleaded guilty to failing to notify the authorities he was no longer resident in the United Kingdom and to not telling the Department for Work and Pensions his assets had increased.

Today Recorder James Baird found that Riley’s total benefit from wrong-doing was £77,279.

He made a confiscation order in the sum of £30,525 during a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Bradford Crown Court.

The sum of £10,000 has been restrained in Riley’s bank accounts.

He must pay back the balance of the money owed by selling his home – Lemon Cottage, in Sri Lanka.

Riley must find the outstanding amount in six months or face a 15-month jail sentence.

At a previous hearing, the judge was told the Sri Lankan house had been on the market for £20,000 for two and a half years, that it was in a civil conflict zone and there had been no interest from buyers.

When Riley was jailed 18 months ago, a spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions fraud team said: “This man thought he could live a life of Riley at the taxpayers’ expense. He was wrong.”

Today the spokesman added: “As this case shows, there is no hiding place for anyone who thinks they can get away with stealing taxpayers’ money.

“They not only face a prison sentence, but they have to pay back the amount stolen and any profit they have made.”