Jailed for £85m phone fraud
A wealthy Staffordshire businessman has been jailed for 12-and-a-half years for his part in an £85 million mobile phone VAT fraud. A wealthy Staffordshire businessman has been jailed for 12-and-a-half years for his part in an £85 million mobile phone VAT fraud. Raymond Cox, aged 37, had "all the trappings of wealth", a court heard. He boasted a large home at New House Farm, Morrilow Heath, near Stone, with a fleet of expensive cars in the drive, and company links in Spain and Germany. He was one of six major fraudsters jailed at Liverpool Crown Court, following one of the biggest ever investigations by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), lasting five years. The 'missing trader' fraud involved nearly 100 mobile phone traders and two separate criminal trials and saw the six men jailed for more than 47 years. Read the full story in the Express & Star.
Raymond Cox, aged 37, had "all the trappings of wealth", a court heard.
He boasted a large home at New House Farm, Morrilow Heath, near Stone, with a fleet of expensive cars in the drive, and company links in Spain and Germany.
He was one of six major fraudsters jailed at Liverpool Crown Court, following one of the biggest ever investigations by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), lasting five years.
The 'missing trader' fraud involved nearly 100 mobile phone traders and two separate criminal trials and saw the six men jailed for more than 47 years.
Investigations by HMRC began in 2000 and involved breaking the audit trail of 98 businesses based in the UK, Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
The fraudsters were directors and executives of seven of the companies identified during the trial.
The phones were purportedly imported into the UK VAT free by various companies set up by the fraudsters, who then sold the phones on, charging VAT that was never paid over to HMRC. These companies then went 'missing'.
Cox, a former storesman in Stoke-on-Trent, began to trade in mobile phones essentially through two companies in Germany and two in Spain.
Through these he supplied telephones directly into the UK between January and October 2001, always to missing traders.
Brett Issitt, of Todmorden, Lancashire, Michael McNeill, from Rossendale, Paul Sweeney, who lived in Amsterdam, Peter Glover, of Warwickshire, and Colin Jones, from Cheshire, were also jailed.
