David Shipley was told by a judge that he committed a “blatant piece of dishonesty”

A Conservative Party activist who produced a movie promoting Brexit has been jailed after conning the Dragons’ Den entrepreneur James Caan’s business out of a £519,000 investment.

David Shipley, 37, was one of the leading voices behind Brexit: The Movie, which featured Nigel Farage and David Davis, that was released a month before the 2016 referendum.

He admitted fraudulently gaining an investment in his financial recruitment company by altering his tax and bank statements to inflate his earnings.

He approached Mr Caan’s business, Resourcing Capital Ventures, with a Dragons’ Den-style pitch requesting the loan for his firm, Spitfire Capital Advisors.

The activist lied on a P60 form that his salary was £377,000 when in reality he was making under £60,000 and altered bank