Werrington electrician jailed over £372k VAT fraud
FRAUDSTER Ross Elliott has been jailed for forging documents to claim more than £372,000 in VAT.
The electrician's scam involved submitting false invoices and contracts for work he had never done over a two-and-a-half year period.
The 34-year-old, of Moorland Avenue, Werrington, was found out after housing developers and householders revealed they had never even heard of him.
Elliott was yesterday handed a three-year prison sentence after admitting being knowingly concerned in obtaining fraudulent payments of VAT between January 11, 2008 and November 2, 2010.
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Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court was told that self-employed Elliott registered for VAT in 2002 and ran the firm Elliott Electrical from his home.
Records revealed that Elliott, who has no previous convictions, initially cashed cheques worth thousands of pounds at outlets in Telford and Sheffield.
Elliott had attempted to exploit HM Revenue and Customs' (HRMC) policy that new build developments are exempt from VAT meaning contractors do not pass on the charge.
The fraudster had informed HMRC he had carried out work for national home-building firms including Barratt, David Wilson and Waterloo.
Martin Reid, prosecuting, said: "In July 2010 he claimed to have been carrying out electrical work on new build housing estates which have a zero-rate for VAT.
"He also presented a list of purchases and banking records which were screen shots.
"No stock was seen at his house and he told officers that they went straight to the site."
The suppliers which had been listed later told HMRC they had not sent Elliott any products with one firm claimed they didn't even sell electrical goods.
During the deception, Elliott also forged invoices to domestic customers who also confirmed he had never carried out work for them.
Neil Percer, defending, said: "This is not the sort of fraud where a criminal gang set up a company just for fraud – the defendant did trade as an electrician.
"There was real work and real claims. But having got in to financial difficulty he reached out and took the over-ripe hanging fruit."
Elliott's initial four-year sentence was reduced to three years in light of his guilty plea.
Judge Granville Styler told the defendant: "Your claims were fraudulent from the outset and you knew what you were doing."
Elliott will appear at a proceeds of crime hearing in due course.
4 Comments
by lanternhead
Wednesday, February 13 2013, 1:01AM
“plenty of those in the potteries luv.”
by roob57
Saturday, February 09 2013, 12:05PM
“Get a life.
At least he has been sent down for three years which is more than the benefit fraudsters that you seem to love ever get.”
by LongTallSarah
Friday, February 08 2013, 9:32PM
“And not even enough interest to spot that my maths is getting rusty - this guy's fraud isn't seven times that alleged in today's lead story, it's SEVENTY times more.”
by LongTallSarah
Friday, February 08 2013, 7:47PM
“Someone guilty of a £327,000 fraud, and not a word so far from any of usual suspects usually so keen to dish out summary justice.
Is it because, despite the scale of the fraud, somehow this man didn't warrant a photograph in the paper, while dog-poo boy yesterday did? Because that's saved him from all those 'doesn't he look ugly/shifty/stupid' comments that get handed out even if you look fairly normal.
Is it because his name doesn't suggest non-white heritage - well, that's saved him from the 'send him back home' brigade. And of course he's a bloke, so that's saved him from the 'burn the witch' crew who particularly enjoy pouring out their bile at female miscreants.
But the real saving grace for this not-so-bright spark is that he's fiddled tax, not benefits. So even though the amount is more than seven times the sum in the alleged fraud that the Sentinel have made their lead story today (involving a woman of non-British heritage - watch those comments fly in if she is guilty) and which hasn't even got to Court yet, it looks like nobody cares. Even though this money comes out of their pockets as surely as any benefit fraud.
Double standards anyone?”