A fraudster who fled the country after committing a multi-million pound VAT scam has been jailed following more than a decade on the run.

John Dalton, formerly of Abbots Barton Walk in Canterbury, used numerous aliases to cheat the public revenue, falsely claiming £3.8 million in VAT repayments from HM Revenue and Customs.

The 54-year-old was arrested in 2007 but failed to answer bail.

He was later prosecuted for fraud offences in France, but skipped the country before his prison term could be started.

Dalton, who was born Paul Kemp, later resurfaced in Spain and in November 2017 he was detained under a Europan Arrest Warrant before being brought back to the UK from Madrid by Kent Police officers.

He was this week sentenced to five years and four months’ in jail at a hearing at Inner London Crown Court, having pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT.

Three other members of his criminal enterprise were jailed for a combined total of nine years and 10 months back in 2010.

Dalton - who has used at least 12 different names throughout his life – and another man were the main offenders in the conspiracy, which mainly focused on the false claiming of £3.8 million worth of VAT repayments.

They set up a number of sham companies and using forged documents to show that because their business transactions were carried out overseas, they did not receive VAT payments from their customers.

But the majority of the businesses never legitimately traded and the offices where they were supposedly based were rarely occupied and changed on a regular basis.

Investigating officer DS Steve Payne of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate says career criminal Dalton cheated his way through life by creating numerous false identities and businesses in order to make money that he was not entitled to.

“I hope this case demonstrates that crime does not pay and that we do not forget about people who try to escape justice, no matter how many years have passed,” he said.

“We will now use legislation under the Proceeds of Crime Act to target Dalton’s assets and ensure he is not allowed to enjoy any further luxuries following his eventual release from prison.”