Shahid Mohammad, 31, of Derby has been jailed for six years for two counts of fraud with his accomplices receiving suspended sentences.

As well as the 90 fake companies registered on Companies House, the gang also set up a string of recruitment agencies to steal identities and used the companies to submit VAT returns amounting to £80,716.

The investigation was conducted by HMRC, Derbyshire Police and West Midlands Police, who found £390,980 had been fraudulently claimed using 91 different stolen identities. The fraud took place between January 2015 and November 2016.

The gang used the identities to list people as directors of the false car dealerships, using the addresses of empty premises in the Midlands.