A former Leeds solicitor guilty of a £133,000 tax fraud has been jailed for 21 months.

Timothy Rogers, 35, who owned Rogers & Co in Leeds, altered conveyancing documents to reduce the amount of stamp duty owed on properties bought by clients. He then charged them the full amount, pocketing the difference.

He pleaded guilty to two charges of making a false statement with intend to defraud and was sentenced to 21 months in prison at Leeds Crown Court.

The court heard that Rogers began committing the offences in 2010 when his firm began to struggle and the long hours that he was working to keep it afloat clouded his judgement. Rogers submitted false VAT refund claims and was caught out by HM Revenue & Customs investigators when he refused to hand over paperwork to support those claims. 

A spokesman for the Solicitors Regulation Authority said Rogers, whose firm closed down in 2011, no longer had a practising certificate, but is still on the roll. He said the SRA is aware of the case and awaiting proper notification from the court before deciding how to progress.