A butcher who was found guilty of spending £3.3m of taxpayers’ money on a luxury lifestyle has been jailed following an HMRC investigation.
Gary Turner was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to five years in prison and assets of £785,000 have already been restrained by HMRC, with confiscation proceedings underway to recover more of his criminal profits.
Turner owned concessions of Turner’s Butchers in local branches of Kwik Save, but when his business experienced a downturn in 1996 he started to siphon off taxpayers’ money.
His criminal activities funded a luxury family home, a bungalow for his son, expensive holidays, six high performance cars with private number plates, Fender guitars and Rolex watches worth more than £35,000.
Under initial HMRC enquiries, Turner claimed his fictitious accountant had all of his paperwork. However his lies and fake business records - including his supplier, the Botswana Meat Commission, who had never heard of him - eventually caught up with him.
He confessed to faking invoices as well as submitting false VAT repayment claims between £19,000 and £46,000, and admitting that his business, from 1996 onwards, was “all fake”.
District judge, HHJ Belcher said in court: “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. You and your family were the sole beneficiary of this crime.”
Peter Hollier, HMRC assistant director for criminal investigation said: “Tax fraud is a serious crime. Turner tried to play the system so he could live a life of luxury. He went to a great deal of effort to try to hide his lies but our investigators unravelled what he thought was a water-tight scam.”
Simon Rowlinson, specialist prosecutor for the CPS Central Fraud Group said: “Turner’s sentence is not the end of this case for the Crown Prosecution Service. We are now determined to go after Turner’s illicit gains and get that money back into the public purse for the benefit of the British public. Court proceedings will continue as we identify the assets bought with criminal money to confiscate, including houses, jewellery and other luxury items beyond the means of most working people.”
Gary Turner was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to five years in prison and assets of £785,000 have already been restrained by HMRC, with confiscation proceedings underway to recover more of his criminal profits.
Turner owned concessions of Turner’s Butchers in local branches of Kwik Save, but when his business experienced a downturn in 1996 he started to siphon off taxpayers’ money.
His criminal activities funded a luxury family home, a bungalow for his son, expensive holidays, six high performance cars with private number plates, Fender guitars and Rolex watches worth more than £35,000.
Under initial HMRC enquiries, Turner claimed his fictitious accountant had all of his paperwork. However his lies and fake business records - including his supplier, the Botswana Meat Commission, who had never heard of him - eventually caught up with him.
He confessed to faking invoices as well as submitting false VAT repayment claims between £19,000 and £46,000, and admitting that his business, from 1996 onwards, was “all fake”.
District judge, HHJ Belcher said in court: “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. You and your family were the sole beneficiary of this crime.”
Peter Hollier, HMRC assistant director for criminal investigation said: “Tax fraud is a serious crime. Turner tried to play the system so he could live a life of luxury. He went to a great deal of effort to try to hide his lies but our investigators unravelled what he thought was a water-tight scam.”
Simon Rowlinson, specialist prosecutor for the CPS Central Fraud Group said: “Turner’s sentence is not the end of this case for the Crown Prosecution Service. We are now determined to go after Turner’s illicit gains and get that money back into the public purse for the benefit of the British public. Court proceedings will continue as we identify the assets bought with criminal money to confiscate, including houses, jewellery and other luxury items beyond the means of most working people.”
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