Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon called for a high-tech war on benefits fraudsters after a London council used Voice Risk Analysis technology to catch out hundreds of dole cheats.

Harrow Council officials saved themselves over £50,000 a week when their high-tech tactics panicked hundreds of benefits fraudsters into handing back their dodgy giros.

The test - which has been used in the insurance industry for a number of years - works by detecting changes in people's voice patterns such as hesitation or avoiding direct questions.

It is calibrated at the start of a benefits interview when the official is asking straightforward details such as name, address and date of birth.

Harrow councillors believe the scheme has saved taxpayers £300 every working hour.

Lady Hermon said the scheme should be put in place here in a bid to slash the £60m lost last year through fraud and error.

She said: " The results of the pilot scheme operating in Harrow have clearly exceeded all expectations. Not only has it identified high-risk applicants, of whom around half later proved to be receiving an incorrect benefit, but it has also acted as a real deterrent to would-be fraudsters.

"The net saving in that particular council area has been estimated at £50K per month. So if the scheme is good enough for Harrow and works well, why can't we have it piloted in Northern Ireland straightaway?"

Social Security powers have not yet been devolved to Stormont, so it would currently be up to the Department of Works and Pensions at Westminster to extend the scheme to Ulster.

It has so far tested the scheme in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Durham and Harrow.

And a spokesman for the SSA said it was tracking the pilot schemes, and would consider bringing the system into Northern Ireland, following a full evaluation of the tests.

Since the start of the year 66 dole cheats have been prosecuted for benefit fraud in Northern Ireland.

keep these 2 pars inAnd last week crooked lottery winner Leanne Thompson was ordered to hand back almost £40,000 that she had swindled out of the Social Security Agency.

Thompson (29) from Bloomfield Parade in Belfast was hit with a confiscation order after escaping with a suspended jail sentence when she was convicted of benefit fraud last October.