A former estate agent has escaped jail after running up a tax bill of £281,000.

Michael Waddingham, 44, failed to submit any self-assessment tax returns between 2008 and 2012.

During this time he was a director of Chantry Estates (London).

The firm is described as a developer by HMRC, but by Companies House as ‘real estate agencies’.

The firm is now dissolved.

According to HMRC, Waddingham was also an employee at an un-named estate agency between 2007 and 2010, where HMRC said that he did pay tax under the PAYE scheme.

Chantry Estates (London) was run by Dexters boss Jeff Doble, who said it was not an estate agency. Waddingham had also worked for Dexters – but this was well before his taxes were investigated.

A statement from Dexters yesterday said: “Michael Waddingham worked for Dexters from 1994 to 1999, when he stopped working as an estate agent and moved into property development.

“Chantry Estates London was a ‎property development company run and controlled by Jeff Doble. Michael Waddingham was a director and the business ceased active trading in 2010. The company was later closed.

“The reference to it being an ‘estate agency’ is wrong and there was no connection to Dexters.

“All taxes and accounting in relation to Chantry Estates are 100% in order and there ‎is no connection to this case, nor are any other former directors implicated in any way.

“Jeff Doble has no knowledge of Michael’s personal ‎tax affairs nor has he had any active business connection with him since 2010.”

Waddingham, of Teddington, Middlesex, is said by HMRC to be currently the director of two companies – a property developer firm and a betting company – and to own 17 properties throughout England.

At Kingston Crown Court, he was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years and ordered to pay a penalty of £200,000, on top of the £281,000 tax he has already repaid. He must also complete a 200-hours community work order within 12 months, observe a six-month curfew between the hours of 8pm and 5am, and pay a victims’ support charge of £425.

The HMRC investigation found he had not submitted tax returns for several years; failed to declare rental income or that he had been a director of seven land and property development companies; and had income above £100,000 per year due to the directorships.

Following his arrest in 2015, HMRC forensic accountants worked with his own accountants to calculate the total income tax and Capital Gains Tax that he owed.

Waddingham admitted tax fraud on January 17 and was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court after being remanded in jail overnight.

HMRC said it has recovered all the tax he stole and he has six months to pay the additional £200,000 financial penalty.