A car dealer who was jailed for four years for failing to pay more than €220,000 in VAT on second-hand vehicles has had his sentence cut to two years on appeal.
John Hughes (56), who lived in Bray, Co Wicklow, before he moved to Nice, France, had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to failing to pay VAT on 119 vehicles between July 2003 and February 2006. He had no previous convictions and the court heard he had repaid the outstanding €226,718.
The Court of Criminal Appeal said yesterday Hughes had fraudulently used a VAT number from a company for which he had once worked.