An IT consultant who failed to declare almost £2m in income has been sentenced to five years in jail for tax fraud.
Stephen Maxwell had claimed he lost income after being involved in the 2009 Cumbria train disaster in which a passenger died. He was dubbed a hero for rescuing fellow passengers from the wreckage of the smash but following an investigation by HMRC officers, it was revealed he had paid no tax for nearly a decade leading up to the rail tragedy.
The 53-year-old Scotsman worked as an IT consultant for a number of City banks between 1999 and 2008. Lucrative fees were paid to a slew of Gibraltar and Isle of Man-registered companies - of which he was a hidden beneficiary. And from 2005 the income was paid to a UK-registered company which never made any tax returns.
Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court heard that Maxwell of Wallock Brae, in Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway, was responsible for a £635,015 loss to the Exchequer over the period 06 April 1999 - 05 April 2008.
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