AN Altrincham fraudster is among seven gang members jailed for their part in a £250,000 caravan VAT fraud.


Robert Abel Cann, 70, of Dunham Rise, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on August 8 and was disqualified from holding a company directorship for six years.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat the revenue and money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.


Career criminal Michael Davies, from Staffordshire, led the attempt to claim almost £257,000 in VAT repayments by inventing bogus sales of caravan parts and accessories, but investigations by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and North Yorkshire Police quashed the conspiracy.


Davies, 48, of De Havilland Drive, Yarnfield, Stone, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment on November 4 – he was also disqualified from holding a company directorship for two and a half years.


Gary Lampon, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: “Davies and his gang members operated a network of companies that supposedly traded internationally in large quantities of caravan parts and accessories.


“They deceitfully created false paperwork showing the goods had been sold in the UK through their string of companies, adding VAT on each transaction.


“They then tried to claim back the VAT that hadn’t been paid in the first place, when the non-existent goods were exported.”


The gang operated four companies, including three companies set up purely to carry out the fraud and money laundering activities – Sky Incentives Ltd in Altrincham, Lorcan Steels in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Capital Consulting UK Ltd in Marple.