An unscrupulous tenant who forged a statement to back up a county court claim against her landlord has been jailed for six months.

Elaine Moxon submitted a false statement which contributed to a judgement going against landlord Zareef Latif, who rented out a house he owns on Latchmere Avenue at West Park, Leeds, to Moxon and her husband from 2011 to 2015.

The landlord, who described the three-year ordeal of dealing with his tenant as “horrendous”, was left facing paying county court fines and costs of more than £30,000.

After the hearing at Leeds Crown Court, Latif, of West Park in Leeds, said: “This woman has put me through an absolutely horrendous ordeal for the last three years.

“It has been a nightmare. She is now where she belongs and I hope to be able to get on with my life.”

Prosecutor, Philip Adams, told the court that Latif sued Moxon in 2016 for rent arrears of £4,200.

But Moxon launched a counter claim for damages and claimed Latif had dumped her property on the street before changing the locks after evicting her and her husband.

A final hearing for that claim was held at Leeds County Court on July 29 2016, which Latif was not aware it was happening.

The judge at that hearing ordered Latif to pay £24,800 to the Moxons for damage to property in respect of her counter claim, plus court costs.

However, after obtaining the paperwork submitted by the Moxons, the landlord found a false statement Moxon’s cousin who on the record later said she knew nothing about.

Latif reported his findings to police and applied to have the county court judgement against him removed.

When sentencing Moxon, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC told her: “It was a thoroughly dishonest and wicked thing to do.”