One of the accountants jailed for the £70m tax fraud at Vantis, has been ordered to pay back £809,692 or face more time behind bars.

David Perrin, was sentenced to 18 months in prison last year for running the tax scam that generated profits of more than £4.5m for him and his colleague, Roy Faichney.

A judge at Blackfriars Crown Court has now given him six months to pay back the money or face returning to prison for a further three years.

Faichney, managing director of Vantis Tax was said to have had a 'gentleman's agreement' with deputy managing director, Perrin - who was jailed in January last year for his part in the fraudulent tax avoidance scheme sold to wealthy customers.

The scheme proved so popular that, according to HMRC Vantis employees performed a celebratory song at their annual conference, to the tune of the Gloria Gaynor disco hit I Will Survive at a seminar organised by their company. Their version ran: 'They should have changed that stupid law / they should have b*****ed charity / but they left that lovely tax relief, for folks to pay to me.'

Acting together they extracted the cash they made through a Jersey bank to evade tax on their illicit earnings.

Perrin's 18 month prison sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal and was found to have been unduly lenient but, due to his health, the original sentence was not altered. Faichney was sentenced to four years and banned from acting as a director for 10 years.