Southwark Crown Court heard that Melanie Provan, from west London, spent £50,000 on trips to Nice, Cannes, America and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, staying in five-star hotels. She spent thousands on business expenses, including £8,500 on taxis alone, as well as £85,000 on gambling.

As a director of Genius Media Ltd, based in Gloucester Place, Provan submitted 39 fraudulent VAT returns to HMRC over five years, totalling £528,423.

HMRC launched an investigation after she repeatedly contacted call centres demanding payouts on her false VAT repayments so she could finance a film crew’s trip to Africa.

After being contacted by HMRC, Provan tampered with invoices and bank statements to try and cover her tracks. Following a raid on her house, officers found a mobile phone with a text message: ‘Really worried about VAT repayment, was relying on that for spending money.’

Provan initially denied four charges of VAT fraud but pleaded guilty at a later hearing. As well as the 32-month jail sentence, she has been banned for five years from applying to be a director of a company.

The judge said Provan was motivated by ‘pure greed’ and added: ‘She was stealing for herself. It was persistent, calculated and well-planned. She was arrogant and told deliberate lies.’

Chris Gill, assistant director of HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: ‘Provan believed she could use taxpayer’s money to live the movie star lifestyle, without considering the consequences.

‘She provided false documents to HMRC officers on a number of occasions to deliberately deceive and obtain thousands of pounds to which she was not entitled.’

Report by Pat Sweet