Customs welcome jailing of £38m VAT fraudsters

BRITISH Customs and Excise investigators last night welcomed the jailing of two businessmen who masterminded a £38m VAT fraud

Company director Raymond Woolley, 49, and computer consultant Robert Garner, 35, both from Staffordshire, dodged tax with businesses they set up in Spain, the Irish Republic and their home county.

Woolley, of Ash Bank Road, Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in December last year, while Garner, of Ford Drive, Yarnfield, Stone, was last month sentenced to seven years and three months.