A barrister was jailed for five years today after an “audacious” bid to pocket £17.5 million in VAT through the sale of four imaginary Boeing 747 engines.

John Wilmot, 35, told Revenue & Customs he had bought the second-hand aircraft from a company in Croydon for £100 million then sold them to a contact in Iraq whom he met at a barristers' garden party in London.

The Nigerian national backed up his elaborate get-rich-quick scheme with fake documents portraying a lucrative business sideline.

London’s Southwark Crown Court heard that Wilmot would have received the money had his claim passed automated checks. But when a Customs and Excise officer came to see him instead, the advocate — who was called to the Bar in March 2003 — tried to pull the wool over his eyes with a sheaf of fictitious invoices and a bogus bill of lading.

Wilmot even told the official the name of the ship he used to transport the engines to Iraq. But a little checking quickly revealed it was actually a grain carrier that had never been equipped for the transport of any other cargo.

Wilmot, who lived in accommodation at Temple Chambers in the City, told investigators the engines existed, his customer was real and the deal genuine. He represented himself throughout the case and refused to leave the court cells.

A jury found that he had masterminded the "massive fraud" and convicted him of one count of cheating the public revenue.

Today, Wilmot again refused to come into court. But in remarks still addressing the absent defendant, Judge Deborah Taylor decided to sentence him anyway and said: “You attempted to obtain a VAT refund £17.5 million by submitting a VAT return claiming that you were entitled to that money when you were not.

“You concocted a sham transaction, you used the details of an existing company in Croydon who you claimed were vendors of the engines to produce invoices. They had never heard of you nor dealt in second hand aircraft engines.

“In respect of the transport of these fictional engines, you produced bills of lading for a real ship, which in fact turned out to be a grain carrier, which at the time of the alleged export was carrying beans to Egypt rather than engines to Iraq.”

The judge said she had no doubt the motive for his crime was to “make a success” of an aircraft company called Avion Marine.

“This was an audacious attempt to obtain a very large sum of public money. All that can be said on your behalf is that you acted alone, it was not complex, it was a single application and that you did not succeed in getting the money.

“However, that does not detract from the seriousness of the attempt on your part and the steps you took to fabricate the evidence.”

She said she had concluded “at the time of these offences you were not suffering form the mental illness, namely the psychotic episode you subsequently suffered after your arrest”.

The judge also bore in mind at the time Wilmot had “very recently been appointed a visiting lecturer in law at the University of Westminster, you had attended a number of training exercises at Inner Temple and that you were able to fabricate the sort of documents you needed to support your story.

“This all adds up to the conclusion you were entirely aware of what you were doing.”

Furthermore, the medical evidence demonstrated that Wilmot was not currently suffering from any mental illness.

The judge said that in addition to prison she was going to recommend that Wilmot, who came to Britain as a 12-year-old, should be deported after his release. She also disqualified him from being a company director for eight years.

Robert Gray, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigation Directorate at HMRC, said: “As a barrister he was in a position of knowledge and trust yet he chose to abuse his privileged position to mount an extremely serious attack on the VAT system and take from public funds."

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