A 'wheeler-dealer' who cheated the taxman out of more than a quarter of a million pounds has been jailed for 30 months.

And he faces a further five years on top of that unless he pays a £275,000 tax bill within nine months.

Bradford Crown Court heard that for nearly ten years Terence Wilcock lied to the Inland Revenue and failed to supply information on which his tax liability could be calculated.

After telling the tax people he had stopped trading, he sought a mortgage from his bank and told them he had made £27,000 profit from annual sales of £300,000. He also owned a property in Spain, which he later sold for £100,000.

"It is clear that his business was largely cash-based,'' said prosecutor Thomas Bayliss. "Bank records show that in 1990 he was trading exceedingly profitably.''

The agreed amount in unpaid tax, plus interest, totalled £275,000.

Wilcock, 38, of Shetcliffe Lane, Bierley, Bradford, pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue.

Passing sentence, Judge Alistair McCallum said Wilcock had simply buried his head in the sand. But he warned that if the outstanding tax was not paid there would be a five-year consecutive jail term.

Kerry Macgill, mitigating, said Wilcock was one of five children of a family of travellers who decided to settle down in Bradford.

They were offered very poor housing and he was brought up in some of the most deprived areas of the city, becoming involved in crime at an early age.

Mr Macgill said Wilcock, a father-of-two, was barely literate and had not paid tax year on year.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.