An Oxfordshire builder has been jailed for six months after he failed to pay Income Tax and VAT totalling £71,500.

Haydyn Duffy, 46, of Nuffield, admitted to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigators that he had failed to pay the tax he owed. He said he had intended to do so in the future if there was an 'amnesty' where he would not be fined or prosecuted.

At the time of his arrest in June 2012 he owed £46,663 in income tax and a further £24,855 in VAT.

John Cooper, Assistant Director of HMRC, says: “When HMRC caught him out, Haydyn Duffy had the cheek to say that he had intended to pay his taxes all along – but only at a time that suited him. Yet between 2006 and 2012 he had ample opportunity to pay over the £71,500 he had pocketed at the expense of his customers and honest, law abiding people – people who pay their dues when they are due.”

Duffy appeared at Isleworth Crown Court on 15 March. He was sentenced to six months in prison. He had admitted evading Income Tax and VAT at a previous hearing.