A TAX cheat who funded a lavish lifestyle by fraudulently claiming more than £1.5 million in VAT repayments has been jailed.
Melvyn Horton, 58, used fake invoices to make false claims for VAT refunds and used the money to pay for expensive holidays and private schooling.
The electrician from Ashley Rise, Walton-On-Thames stole the identities of seven companies to create fake sales and purchase invoices before submitting fraudulent repayment claims to HMRC between 2009 and 2013.
Horton, who ran Cobham Electrical Ltd, claimed £1,533,598.82 in VAT refunds.
He was arrested at his home in June 2013 and admitted his scam.
In January he pleaded guilty to one charge of furnishing a false document and in May he pleaded guilty to a money laundering offence.
He was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on June 6 to two years and eight months in jail on the VAT fraud offence and one year for money laundering to run consecutively.
He was also banned from being a company director for 15 years.
Andrew Sackey, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation, HMRC said: "Criminals like Horton who take a positive decision to steal from the tax system and, ultimately, from every honest taxpayer in the UK must pay the price. In this case as well as being sent to jail, we are now looking to recover the profits of his criminal conduct.
