A man thought to be of Maltese descent has been jailed for two years in Sydney after admitting to 11 cases of stolen identity.

Charles Michael Cassar, 62, admitted to having stolen the identity of deceased children and using their particulars to create false identities for people sought by the police.

The crimes took place over a nine-year period.

A court heard how Cassar and his partner Bonny Purac used to go around graveyards in different parts of Australia, noting the details of dead people, including children,  and then using them to create false identities.

The scam was described as 'sick' by the mother of one of the dead children, according to the Australian media.

Cassar also had previous convictions related to drugs.

Among the targets of Cassar and Purac was the identity of a baby who was just two days old when he died.

The couple used the details to create fake passports, Medicare cards, drivers' licences and bank accounts which they sold to criminals for up to $30,000 each.

The parent of a 21-year-old muscular dystrophy victim, whose details were stolen from a cemetery, described the couple as "terrible, terrible and very sick people".

According to court documents, Cassar made more than A$340,000 from the scheme and enjoyed lavish overseas trips.

In his defence, he argued that he had only stolen dead people's identities.