SHE used her theatrical background to assume a string of alter-egos and illegally claim £118,000 in VAT.

Today 48-year-old Alison Reynolds, who ran a clothes shop in Lymington, is starting a seven-year jail term after admitting eight fraud charges.

She was handed the sentence at Southampton Crown Court yesterday after it heard she assumed at least 15 different identities to falsify documents and defraud Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs between 2003 and 2008.

Reynolds used aliases – adopting a persona for each – to register for VAT and submitted four repayment claims totalling £118,000. During their investigation HMRC officers found false passports and driving licences in a number of names, as well as signatures practised on tracing paper.

Forensic analysis of Reynolds’ computer uncovered a letter on theatre company notepaper suggesting one alias went missing in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. To-do lists with reminders of VAT invoices to fake were also discovered.

On at least two occasions Reynolds met VAT inspectors at rented offices in Bristol and at her elderly mother’s home to give the mostly mail-box fronted businesses an air of legitimacy.

Police arrested her at her Lymington shop, Belle Gray, in January 2008. She ran the store under the name Jane Ditchfield.

John Cooper, HMRC assistant director for criminal investigation, said: “The complexity of this crime would have required detailed planning.

“Not only did Alison Reynolds commit fraud on paper, but she also adopted the different persona and appearance of her aliases.”

Born Virginia Ruth Povall in Buckinghamshire, Reynolds, of Seafield Road, Southampton, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to four counts of cheating the public revenue and four of forgery and fraud. She was handed a further year for breaching a restraining order and perverting the course of justice.

The fraudster was also disqualified from being a company director for 10 years.

Sentencing, His Honour Judge Ralls QC said: “What sticks out is the staggering level of dishonesty in the case.

“I’ve not seen a case that involves such detail of fraudulent activity. The level of your dishonesty is breathtaking.”