A businessman who confessed to committing a £1m VAT fraud to invest in a Singapore fish farm and a Utah goldmine, has been jailed for three years.

Gwynn Williams from Chapeltown in Sheffield was the director of Hallmark Blades, trading in surgical equipment and used the cash to bail out his business.

When rumbled, the 62-year-old told HMRC investigators that he had invested the money in a range of projects, including the fish farm, goldmine, a US hedge-fund and a company supplying generators to Iraq. He told officers he was expecting massive imminent financial returns and just wanted to clear his conscience by repaying the stolen VAT.

Peter Hollier, HMRC's assistant director for criminal investigation, said: 'This was a prolonged and brazen attack on the UK tax system. Gwynn Williams seemed to think he could use taxpayers' money to finance him through hard times and then expected to confess all, repay the money and walk away with a clear conscience. Tax fraud is a criminal offence and Williams is now paying the price for basing his business activity on fraud.'

When officers arrived to interview Williams he presented them with a confession and a schedule of the false VAT refund claims, totalling around £1m.At the fraud's peak Williams was claiming almost £30,000 a month, which he then used to fund "bigger business deals" but claimed he began to feel guilty and wanted to confess and clear his conscience.

Williams admitted to faking transactions in order to submit VAT refund claims through his business, but got nervous after HMRC wanted to arrange a VAT inspection. He admitted to delaying the visit numerous times and tried to scale down his claims in order to avoid detection.

He was arrested by HMRC officers in September 2011 and later charged with fraud. He pleaded guilty at Sheffield Crown Court in November 2012 and was sentenced on 7 December 2012 to three years in prison and disqualified from being a company director for seven years.