A YACHT broker from West Dorset who dodged paying £237,701 VAT on six luxury motor boats has been ordered to pay up or face further jail time.

James Maxwell Williams charged Value Added Tax on the sales of the cruisers, worth £1.6million, but failed to pay the money to HM Revenue & Customs, a court was told.

At Bournemouth Crown Court Williams, of The Paddocks, Litton Cheney, was ordered to pay back the proceeds of his crimes – £219,255 – or face another 30 months in jail.

In March this year, Williams, 51, a self-employed landscape gardener and previously a director of Fairline Dorset Limited, was jailed for three years and disqualified from being a company director for five years.

Williams was found guilty on six counts of cheating the public revenue.

All the offences took place between October 2003 and July 2009.

Williams’ company was registered as ‘Fairline Dorset Limited’ and traded as ‘Fairline Poole’ and ‘Fairline Weymouth’.

The company ceased trading in 2007. Any companies with similar names are not involved with this investigation.

Williams no longer trades as a yacht broker.

Richard Meadows, assistant director for criminal investigation at HMRC, said: “We are determined to bring criminals like Williams before the courts; not only to see them sentenced, but also to remove the proceeds of their crimes.”