Disgraced tycoon Dominic Chappell who purchased BHS for £1 has been recalled to prison after serving three years for tax fraud.

The former BHS boss was released from Guys Marsh Prison in Dorset in November, but was recalled this week for breaching his licence conditions.

Chappell, who was declared bankrupt three times and has no retail experience, bought BHS in 2015 from Sir Phillip Green and it collapsed into administration 13 months later – resulting in 11,000 job losses.

In 2020, he was sentenced to six years in prison for evading around £600,000 in taxes.

Chappell, 56, blamed Sir Philip at the time for allegedly misleading him on the deal. 

Disgraced tycoon Dominic Chappell who purchased BHS for £1 has been recalled to prison after serving three years for tax fraud. Pictured in 2020

Chappell, who was declared bankrupt three times and has no retail experience, bought BHS in 2015 from Sir Phillip Green and it collapsed into administration 13 months later – resulting in 11,000 job losses. Pictured in 2020 at Southwark Crown Court

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and we do not hesitate to recall them if they break the rules.’

BHS’s woes did not prevent him from living the high life, blowing a fortune on personal luxuries such as a £200,000 racing yacht, a £1 million speedboat, a Bentley, Beretta guns and a holiday in the Bahamas.

The former racing driver drew a £510,000 salary and hired a helicopter that he claimed to have flown himself to conduct visits to the down-at-heel stores.

After Chappell drained millions out of the company, it crashed in April 2016.

Chappell, a father-of-two, split from his wife Rebecca in 2020, when she reportedly threw him out of their Grade I-listed mansion in Blandford Forum, Dorset.

A few months later, Chappell was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of evading around £600,000 in taxes.

His legal team told the jury that Chappell was ‘simply too busy’ to lead BHS properly and blamed his financial advisers.

His defence lawyer claimed Chappell had been left ‘utterly broke’ by the BHS crash and that had the pension problem not emerged following his purchase, he would have been able to pay his tax bill.

However, the judge, Mr Justice Bryan, told him he had ‘engaged in a long and consistent course of conduct designed to cheat the Revenue’, adding: ‘You are not of positive good character. Your offending occurs against a backdrop of successive bankruptcies.’

Former bankrupt Dominic Chappell admitted he was a “chancer” who had benefited “a lot”

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell arrives at Brighton Magistrates’ Court in 2017

During an insolvency court hearing, it was alleged Chappell had wrongfully diverted £1.5 million of funds from BHS to a company in Sweden one day after the potential appointment of an administrator had been discussed by the board.

The BHS collapse also caused humiliation for tycoon Sir Philip when the £571 million pension black hole emerged.

After weeks of pressure, Green finally agreed to pay back £363 million. Chappell was separately ordered to pay back £9.5 million, while the Government picked up the rest of the tab.

Chappell was barred from running a company for ten years while his father, Joseph, was banned for five years. Both were accused of making ‘reckless financial transactions’.

Chappell is understood to have spent the majority of his time behind bars at Guys Marsh, after a spell in Wandsworth.

The Category C prison houses about 460 prisoners including murderers and rapists.

It is understood that while inside, Chappell was put in charge of a team repairing TVs and other electronic devices.