Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell jailed for tax evasion

5 November 2020, 16:45 | Updated: 5 November 2020, 16:48

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London
Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London. Picture: PA

By Megan White

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell has been jailed for six years for evading tax on £2.2 million of income he received from his £1 deal to buy the failed high street chain.

He was found guilty of dishonestly evading his liability to pay more than half a million in VAT, corporation tax and income tax between January 2014 and September 2016.

The 53-year-old had denied the three charges of cheating the public revenue related to his bankrupt finance company Swiss Rock Limited, but a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty after a trial which lasted almost four weeks.

Prosecutors say he failed to pay around £350,000 in VAT, some £164,000 in corporation tax and approximately £86,000 in income tax.

Mr Justice Bryan gave the total figure on taxes Chappell had failed to pay as £583,739.20.

Addressing him as he stood in the dock, Mr Justice Bryan said Chappell has engaged in a "long and consistent course of conduct designed to cheat the revenue".

He told him his offending was "an egregious example" of the offence, adding that "only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate".

Before jailing him for six years on each count, to run concurrently, he said: "You are not of positive good character. Your offending occurs against a backdrop of successive bankruptcies."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Dorothy Chiles

Great-grandmother, 87, pictured for first time after deadly train station attack, as woman in her 20s arrested

President Donald Trump speaks on Wednesday night

Trump makes plans to meet Putin and end Ukraine war as he says 'the US wants its money back'

Exclusive
Katie Amess has spoken out about the need for an inquiry into her father's murder by an Islamist terrorist

Daughter of Sir David Amess, MP murdered by Islamist terrorist, ‘made to sign NDA’ on report into father’s death

Exclusive
Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin 'to meet in Saudi Arabia' and 'start negotiations immediately' to end war in Ukraine

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers

Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire

Officer accused of pinning down and trying to kiss soldier, 19, had been 'waiting for moment for them to be alone'

A public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks'

Public inquiry into Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks', PM tells victims' families

Paul Allen.

Cagefighter guilty of Britain's largest cash robbery shot in neck in his kitchen in murder plot