A civil servant is accused of fraudulently earning more than £284,000 by juggling multiple full-time public sector roles - using sick notes and working from home to cope with the workload.

Kashim Chowdhury held eight jobs in government and other public sector organisations between February 2020 and September 2023, earning £350,000 overall.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court has been told he wore white make-up during a video call with his boss to try to look ill, but the make-up began peeling off his skin.

Chowdury, a 55-year-old from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud, which he denies. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.

The jury was told that Chowdhury got jobs by making ''false representations'' about his employment status whilst applying.

In the Spring of 2023 he had five jobs where he was contractaully required to work full time: he was employed at the Home Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK Health Security Agency, the Food Standards Agency and the Department for Business and Trade.

The jury was told that his manager at the Health Security Agency, Aleesha Adams, organised a video call with him to discuss his sick leave.

Ms Adams claims Chowdhury was wearing make-up on his face to appear ill - and that during the meeting the make-up started to separate on his forehead showing his real skin colour underneath.

Lucy Organ, for the prosecution, told the court: "There could be no doubt about it, the defendant had applied make-up to his face for this Teams meeting to try and pretend to his line manager that he was unwell.

"This almost laughable incident demonstrates, we say, quite how far the defendant was willing to go in his deceit."

Prosecutors say Chowdhury "exploited" the work from home culture that began during the Covid pandemic. The court was told that Chowdhury had told his employers that he had to work from home to care for his "unwell" mother.

But the prosecutor, Ms Organ, said his workload eventually became "too much to cope with" and his performance suffered.

The court heard that he was signed off work from some jobs due to "mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder", but he did not hand his sick note to all his employers.

Jurors heard that the alleged fraud came to light after the National Fraud Initiative alerted Defra to them.

The trial continues.