A father and son who set up construction companies to carry out a VAT fraud have been jailed following an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Timothy Bentley, 62, from Cheshire, and his son James Bentley, 36, from Sutton Coldfield, were found to have set up the construction companies to fraudulently claim more than £500,000 tax back on supplies for new build homes that were never built.

Two companies, J Bentley Construction Ltd and Warwickshire Engineering Supplies Ltd, were formed and the men also operated Buildtech Construction 33 Ltd. Between August 2009 and December 2012 the pair made 15 VAT repayment claims totalling £515,721.56.

A third man, Salim Rahman, 30, from Stoke-on-Trent, was also found to have set up a bank account for Buildtech Construction, which was used to cash the fraudulent repayment cheques.

“Timothy and James Bentley had set up and operated these construction companies for no other reason than to fraudulently claim back VAT paid on building materials,” Richard Young, Assistant Director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, said.

“Our investigations showed that the invoices the defendants provided to us were bogus – there were never any construction supplies and never any new build houses.”

Both Timothy and James Bentley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat the public revenue when they appeared before Stafford Crown Court. James additionally pleaded guilty to money laundering. The pair were each sentenced by the court on 20 May to two years in jail.

Salim Rahman pleaded guilty to money laundering and was handed a 10-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months. He was also given a 125-hour unpaid community work order.

HHMRC asks anyone with information about people who may be involved in tax fraud to contact its 24-hour Hotline on 0800 59 5000.