A businessman jailed earlier this week after claiming more than £40,000 in VAT payments on a minibus firm which did not exist has already had his sentence reduced.

Omar Mayet registered Batley Cabs National Services in 2010 with Custom and Excise saying he was providing passenger services using a 15 seater mini-bus.

He then submitted a claim for VAT repayment every quarter until March 2013 when an investigation began. By that time, although he had claimed more than £45,000 he had received only £35,771.

Leeds Crown Curt heard when he was then arrested Mayet confessed it was “a phoney company” and the claim was dishonest from the outset because of financial debts.

“I have done wrong, I have claimed VAT, I’m going to be honest,” he said admitting he had never owned a mini-bus or had a taxi licence. “I should have admitted it straight away.”

Daniel Gaskell told the court in mitigation for Mayet he had acted because of financial problems which had only got worse.

He said: “He acted alone. It was a fairly naïve act which almost inevitably would have been discovered because he used his own address and name.”

Mayet, 30 of Lichfield Road, Dewsbury was jailed for 18 months after he admitted the fraudulent claim but yesterday Recorder Sara Dodd cut the jail term to 16 months.

She told him having considered the case: “I hadn’t given you enough credit for your guilty plea.”