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Marie
O’Brien was part of a 11-strong criminal gang who
conspired to cheat the public purse and defraud HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in a “breathtaking” seven-year
con.
The
48-year-old, who used to live at Knock, near Huntly, was
found guilty after a lengthy trial at Liverpool Crown
Court.
The gang,
which includes members from as far afield as Warrington
and Newcastle, set up fake businesses to sell supposed
“zero-rated” goods including children’s clothes, animal
feed, straw and hay to claim back VAT.
The scam
involved a paper trail of false invoices and bogus
transactions.
It is
understood the money made from the reclaimed VAT
payments was spent on property.
O’Brien
was found guilty, alongside John Wright, 45, of
Appleton, Warrington, Emma Vasey, 34, of Newcastle, and
Michael North, 69, of Derbyshire.
Seven
other people had already admitted their role in the
fraud, which conned HMRC out of £1.7million.
The court
was told that the fraudsters created a large number of
companies and registered them for VAT.
They
claimed to be trading throughout England and Scotland
and claimed back VAT for the zero-rated items.
Former
Everton and Motherwell footballer Tony Thomas was one of
three people who were originally accused of being
involved, but was later acquitted.
The
38-year-old, who is now a taxi driver, revealed during
the 10-week trial that the “wheels had fallen off his
life” after his football career ended because of an
injury.
Judge
William George told O’Brien and the 10 others found
guilty: “These are serious matters, a lot of money was
involved. All sentencing options will be open to me,
including custody.”
The
defendants will be brought back to court on October 19
for sentencing.
During the
trial, prosecutor Ian Unsworth said: “We allege that
these defendants are guilty of a quite breathtaking
fraud of the public purse.
“They
carried out the fraud in a determined, efficient and
ruthless manner.”
He added
the guilty 11 were willing members of a gang of
fraudsters who obtained more than £1.7million from HMRC.
“They did
it by the ruthless and systematic execution of a simple
and yet highly effective scheme, which had a single
purpose: to cheat the public revenue.”
He said
each member of the gang “lent themselves to an operation
which obtained hundreds of thousands of pounds of money
from the public purse”.
“Some were
more involved than others. Some were leading figures and
others played lesser, but significant roles,” Mr
Unsworth added.
Source
: Press and Journal, United Kingdom, dated
14/08/2009
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