A Barnet businessman, who defrauded the taxpayer of more than £400,000 to fund his luxury lifestyle, was jailed for 21 months yesterday.

Darren Impleton, of Darlands Drive, bought holiday homes in Florida, including a four-bedroom villa, a speed boat and hired a Hummer jeep with the fraudulent cash.

The 43-year-old lied about the income of his white van removals service Apollo International Movers between 2005 and 2011.

He told the Inland Revenue the company’s turnover was £122,000 a year, when the true figure was closer to £1.8million.

The “systematic and brazen” tax fraud was increased by inflated and fictitious business expenses claims.

In total, Impleton defrauded the taxpayer of £418,000 before investigators from HM Revenue and Customs caught up with him.

On November 16, he was arrested by border control as he tried to return to the UK from Switzerland where he had been working.

He pleaded guilty at Wood Green Crown Court on March 19 to two counts of cheating the public revenue before he was sentenced yesterday.

Passing sentence, the judge said: “I view the offence of cheating the public revenue to be so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate. The loss to the revenue was in excess of £400,000 in what was a repeated and prolonged fraud until investigators caught up with you.”

Martin Brown, HMRC’s assistant director for criminal investigation, said in a statement: “This was a systematic and brazen tax fraud which stole money from UK taxpayers to fund a lavish lifestyle both in the UK and America."