A butcher who cheated the public purse out of £3.3 million over a period of more than 14 years, to fund his life of luxury, has been handed a five year prison sentence. In addition, HMRC has restrained £785,000 of assets, with confiscation proceedings ensuing to recover more of the ill-gotten gains.
Gary Turner, aged 47, owned concessions of Turner's Butchers in local branches of Kwik Save but when trade took a nose dive he embarked on his VAT pilfering. From 1996, he falsified invoices and made false VAT repayment claims.
Mr Turner from Morley, Yorkshire, spent the proceeds of his criminal activities on a luxurious family home, a bungalow for his son and luxury foreign holidays. He also acquired six high performance cars with private registration plates, numerous Rolex watches valued in excess of £35,000 and Fender electric guitars. During this time his family were oblivious to his tax crime.
At the outset of HMRC enquiries, Turner claimed that a bogus accountant had all of his paperwork. He proceeded to produce forged business records that indicated his main supplier as being the Botswana Meat Commission but unsurprisingly they had never heard of him.
The deceitful Turner eventually admitted that his business was a fake from 1996 onwards and produced fictitious invoices and made false VAT repayment claims between £19,000 – £46,000.
Sentencing Turner at Leeds Crown Court, district judge, Penelope Belcher said, “This crime was aggravated by greed, not need, and at the expense of the government and the taxpayer. Your crime hits all members of society; you have deprived the government of money and the NHS has been deprived also – the money could have been spent by the NHS.”
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