A crooked accountant has been jailed for defrauding his staff and fiddling VAT.

Chartered accountant Peter Rose, 65, of Tadworth, was jailed for two years last month after pocketing tax and national insurance contributions paid by staff.

Rose ran a company in Wallington called Mayfair Associates (Surrey) Ltd, which offers pensions advice, accountancy and book keeping services, but used a redundant VAT number to invoice clients.

He never paid £150,000 in VAT from customers and failed to pay £65,000 income tax and national insurance on his own earnings.

He also defrauded his staff over nine years by keeping £150,000 in national insurance and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) contributions, which he had deducted from their salaries.

John Pointing, assistant director for criminal investigation at HM Revenue & Customs, said: "Peter Rose conned his clients and his own staff by persistently and deliberately committing fraud.

"He may have thought his professional skills made his crimes undetectable, but he was wrong.

"HMRC is increasing its resources and efforts to track down and investigate tax fraud.

"We will not hesitate to seek out these fraudsters - we owe it to the honest and law-abiding to do so."

HMRC officers arrested Rose in July 2012. Rose, who lives in the Hudsons, Tadworth, was charged with mortgage fraud and offences contrary to the VAT Act 1994 and Fraud Act 2006.

He admitted the offences at Guildford Crown Court and was sentenced on December 18.

Anyone with information about people or businesses involved in fraud can contact HMRC on the Tax Evasion hotline on 0800 788 887 or at www.hmrc.gov.uk/tax-evasion