A judge has sentenced a dishonest Cornish accountant who fiddled almost £160,000 from the taxman to a four-month curfew.

And he said if Michael Adams "moaned about the substantial restriction" he would impose a "more serious restriction on your liberty" – jail.

Adams, of Goldsithney, near Penzance, did not pass on the income tax and national insurance contributions, for two builders he was responsible for, to HMRC between 2008 and 2017.

Judge Robert Linford told Truro Crown Court that 52-year-old Adams knew he should have paid the money to the taxman.

The judge said it was not "neglect or carelessness but deliberate dishonesty."

He said if these offences had not come to light the £159,103 would have been lost to the public purse.

Adams was convicted of the fraudulent evasion of tax and he was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years, and given the four-month night time curfew.

The judge said Adams had paid back every penny and that is what stopped him imposing an immediate jail sentence.

But he ordered the 12-hour-long daily curfew as a punishment to restrict his liberty until May.

He told him: "Hopefully while everybody else will be enjoying coming out of lockdown you will be remaining inside."

Adams will have to stay indoors on an electronically monitored curfew from 7pm to 7am seven days a week for the four months.

Adams was not banned from being a company director because the judge said it was unnecessary to protect the public in this case and he was now on the HMRC's radar. Adams also has to pay £1,500 costs.