A West Yorkshire woman who funded a globe-trotting celebrity lifestyle with the proceeds of a £144,000 VAT fraud has been jailed following an HMRC investigation.

Katherine Devlin, who owned Strictly Gifted Ltd, Strictly Gifted Recruitment Ltd and Strictly Gifted Business Supplies Ltd, made false VAT repayment claims by creating fake invoices and altering paperwork.

HMRC began to investigate Devlin's VAT repayments claims after £144,865 was paid out and further claims totalling £43,228 were stopped prior to payment.

Investigators found that Devlin had been altering invoices from companies with whom she had done business, inflating the VAT amounts in order to submit higher repayment claims. In some cases, she had simply made up invoices as many of the companies had never heard of Devlin or her businesses.

Sandra Smith, assistant director of criminal investigation, HMRC, said: 'She used the cash to fund a lifestyle where she could enjoy luxury breaks, extravagant beauty treatments and almost daily shopping sprees, buying clothing and jewellery, all at the expense of the taxpayer.'

Devlin was arrested in December 2012. During a search of her home, HMRC said officers found a handwritten letter to a relative, which said that she had tried to run a legitimate business but had found no benefit in it.

At Bradford Crown Court last week, Devlin was found guilty on two counts of VAT fraud and one count of money laundering and sentenced to 15 months in jail. The judge in the case said: 'This was a serious and calculated crime that could not be overlooked.'