'Greedy' Stourbridge builder gets 18 months for expenses fiddle
A 'greedy' builder who fiddled his expenses in a bid to cut his tax bill by over £30,000 was starting an 18 month jail sentence today.
Adam Turner started the ruse after reckoning he had been short changed by an employer, a judge heard.
The 45-year-old family man had allegedly been promised additional expenses on top of his wage but ended up with less money being paid into his bank account than he had expected, so he decided to make up the difference with bogus tax deductible expense claims, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
He found this so easy on the internet he continued the racket when the supposed short fall had been recouped and illegally claimed a total of £31,405 in eight months before a tax inspector realised what was going on, said Mr James Bruce, prosecuting.
The Inland Revenue managed to put a stop on £9,554 of the requested refunds meaning that Turner still walked away with £21,851 he was not entitled to. The Inland Revenue will now have to take civil action to recover the money.
Mr Simon Hanns, defending, said: "He has changed his working practices considerably since this happened. He became self employed during the period of the offence.
"His own business is now controlled entirely by his accountant. It is highly unlikely that he will ever come before a court again."
Mr Hanns confirmed: "It started because he was being cut short by his employer but accepts that what he did after that was unacceptable and is thoroughly ashamed."
Turner from Riversleigh Drive, Stourbridge admitted ten charges of tax evasion committed between October 3 2011 and April 12 2012 and was sent to prison by Judge Barry Berlin who told him:
"This was greedy, cynical and persistent offending. There was no need for it. People get desperate and do not thieve in this way.
"You got the taste for easy money. You invented vastly inflated expenses, which had never been incurred, to claim money back from the Inland Revenue. The claims did not come from anywhere other than your imagination.
"This was a serious matter and the general public rightly expect anybody who defrauds the Revenue to have an immediate custodial term. It is important that this message goes out and is widely understood because people who do this are stealing from all of us."
