The owner of multiple restaurants at The O2 has been cleared after a four-year legal battle into tax fraud.

Millionaire businessman Frank Dowling was accused of owing £6 million to the taxman.

However after a protracted legal battle, the case was eventually dropped with the Crown Prosecution offering no evidence.

The CPS held a four-year-investigation into allegedly undeclared VAT and PAYE by Mr Dowling, who ran three venues at The O2.

Mr Dowling, owned Greenwich Inc Trading Ltd, which ran a number of Greenwich venues including the Spread Eagle, Greenwich Tavern, and Coach and Horses.

The company went into administration in 2013 and no longer owns the various Greenwich restaurants as HM Revenue and Customs put the owner under investigation.

Mr Dowling, whose restaurants and bars were part of a £20-million-year turnover business, said he is now considering legal action against organisations that targeted him.

He said: “I am delighted that these charges have been thrown out by the judge. They were ill-founded, ill-conceived and just plain wrong.

“I and my family have been through hell as they tried everything they could to ruin me.”

The American-born businessman opened his first bar in Greenwich in 2003 and, at its height, his company ran 23 restaurants, pubs and bars across London and other UK cities.

He said: “It has been devastating for my business interests as many third parties decided to treat me as guilty and sought illegal and immoral means to seek commercial advantage, but the truth is out there for everyone to see now.

“There’s a feeling of relief that it is over but also anger at what they have put me through and how much money has been wasted.”