CPS News Brief

Four sentenced to a total of 29 years for £98 million tax fraud scheme

Four men have been sentenced to a total of 29 years imprisonment for their role in an elaborate tax fraud involving the funding of UK film productions. The defendants dishonestly claimed losses had been made so that income tax could be falsely claimed back from HMRC.  

Keith Hayley, Robert Bevan, Anthony Savill and Norman Leighton were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at Birmingham Crown Court. Tax reliefs are available to UK investors in film productions and the defendants took advantage to make fraudulent claims. 

In return for making payments to Limited Liability Partnership investors were to receive a share of any loss incurred during production, which they could offset against other income. Losses were inflated and therefore significant gains made by claiming tax relief. 

Naheed Hussain, Deputy Head of the Specialist Fraud Division at the CPS said: “These men used a scheme designed to boost the British economy and stole money from the public purse. 

“The CPS will now take steps to recover the criminal assets in this case.”

 

Additional information

Keith Hayley, Robert Bevan, Anthony Savill and Norman Leighton devised the scheme which was sold on to investors by independent financial advisors. 

The scheme worked by investors paying money into an LLP in the form of a long term loan. The scheme was marketed as funding the British film industry, however the scheme was designed to fail and the investors were able to offset their “losses” against other taxable earnings. 

Details of the charges: 

Keith Hayley, Robert Bevan and Charles Savill were each sentenced to nine years imprisonment, whilst Norman Leighton was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment (suspended)

 

 

Family sentenced for £2.8 million theft from employer

Shelagh Smith, Roy Smith and their daughter Karen Lewis have been sentenced to a total of seven years and four months imprisonment for their involvement in a £2.8 million theft from Glen Dimplex Home Appliances. 

Shelagh Smith made false accounting records to conceal a large number of transfers made over a five year period, between 2005 and 2010. She employed techniques to mask transactions, fraudulently transferring money to her family’s bank account while sending duplicate transfers of the same amounts to legitimate business suppliers. 

Justine Allan, specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The Smiths were trusted employees. Shelagh Smith used her position and access to the company’s accounts to make illegal payments to her own bank account and the personal accounts of family members.

“She covered up these thefts amounting to over £2.8 million over a number of years.

“On the strength of the Crown’s case Shelagh Smith entered a guilty plea and, although initially denying involvement, Roy Smith and Karen Lewis later changed their pleas to guilty.”

Shelagh Smith’s daughter, Karen Lewis, received 38 payments totalling £677,000 over the five-year period. She initially said that she thought that the money came from compensation for a workplace accident her father had suffered.  Later she admitted that she knew or suspected that the money was the proceeds of crime.  

Roy Smith initially denied knowing anything about the fraud, saying that his wife had complete control of the family finances and led him to believe they were comfortably off.  

Additional information

Shelagh Smith was employed by the company (under an earlier name and management) from September 1975 up until her dismissal in 2010. Her husband Roy Smith was employed by the same company from 1971.

Details of the charges:

Shelagh Smith was charged with false accounting contrary to section 17(1)(a) Theft Act 1968. Between 7 June 2005 and 14 October 2010 she dishonestly falsified bank statements and records for personal gain. The total amount taken across 163 transactions is £2,811,904.30. She was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment.

Roy Smith was charged with using criminal property, namely cash, during the same period, knowing or suspecting it to be the proceeds of crime contrary to s.329(b) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. He was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment.

Karen Lewis was charged with using criminal property, namely cash, during the same period, knowing or suspecting it to be the proceeds of crime contrary to s.329(b) Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. She was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment.

Shelagh Smith pleaded guilty on 11 June 2015.  Roy Smith and Karen Lewis pleaded guilty on 16 May 2016 to using the proceeds of Shelagh’s crime.

Directors already disqualified for malpractice defrauded 259 victims of £3 million

Timothy Wren, who controlled the wide-reaching fraud, involving over 250 victims, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud along with John ‘Jack’ Chandler, Jeanette Chandler, Kevin Hilton and Alfred Arthur. Today they were sentenced to a total of 29 years imprisonment.

This land banking fraud deceived 259 victims that their investments in land in Redditch, Warwickshire, would return profit, after its sale to residential property developers. However, this land was part of the green belt reserved for agricultural use.

Geoff Southcote-Want, Specialist Fraud Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service said:

“Land banking fraud has the potential to ruin lives, damaging the future of its victims by draining their life savings.

“The victims’ money, a total of £3.5 million, was spent by the offenders on purchases including Ferrari and Maserati cars costing £115k and £90k each.

“The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to bringing fraudsters such as these to justice. We are now pursuing the confiscation of the assets in this case under the Proceeds of Crime Act.”

Wren and Hilton had already been disqualified as directors by the Financial Services Authority and worked with others between August 2005 and 2012 to fraudulently obtain significant sums of money.

Additional information

The defendants lied that there were ‘known developers’ interested in the land, that planning permission was in place and development was under consideration by the council. None of these facts were true.  

One woman invested and lost her entire life savings, while another investor, who was left blind after an assault, lost the money he was paid as compensation to the fraud.

Details of the charges:

Timothy Wren, John ‘Jack’ Chandler, Jeanette Chandler, Kevin Hilton and Alfred Arthur were charged with and convicted of conspiracy to defraud, contrary to common law.

Details of the sentences:

Timothy Wren received eight years imprisonment, John ‘Jack’ Chandler received seven years, Kevin Hilton received six years and Jeanette Chandler and Alfred Arthur each received four years imprisonment.

Ben Butler convicted of murdering his daughter

Ben Butler, aged 36, was convicted today at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of his six-year-old daughter Ellie on 28 October 2013. 

Malcolm McHaffie, CPS London Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: 

“Six-year-old Ellie Butler was murdered in her home, where she should have felt safe, by her violent father who should have loved and protected her.

“The CPS presented evidence of Ben Butler’s contempt for his daughter and his aggressive nature and volatile temper through text messages and diary entries.

“We may never know exactly what happened in the last few hours of Ellie’s life but the CPS built a strong case to show that her death was the result of deliberate violence by Butler. 

“Butler and his partner and Ellie’s mother, Jennie Gray, did all they could to try to divert the police investigation away from any suspicion of Butler. However, the Crown’s expert medical evidence showed that Ellie’s catastrophic head injuries could not have been the result of an accident, but must have been deliberately inflicted. 

“This was a complex and challenging case which involved a thorough police investigation and was clearly and carefully presented to the court by the CPS. Their hard work and dedication has helped secure justice for Ellie.”