A Suffolk car salesman – who pocketed more than £45,000 after falsely charging VAT to a customer – has been jailed.

David Sadler, 45, of Jarman Close, Bury St Edmunds, charged a customer VAT despite never registering to do so, allowing him to steal £49,642 of VAT payments.

An investigation by HMRC revealed Sadler used a fake VAT number on invoices so that he could bill his customer, a second-hand car supermarket, for VAT which was never passed on.

Sadler was found guilty of the fraudulent evasion of VAT at Ipswich Crown Court on July 20, and was yesterday jailed for nine months.

Anyone suspected of being involved in tax fraud can be reported to HMRC online or by contacting its Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.