- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Farmer jailed for huge £1.2million tax fraud
Roger Ruby, aged 62, faked VAT claims for six years but money vanished into failing business
By
Stuart Abel
A generic picture of a sheep farmer (Image: David Cheskin/PA Wire.)
A farmer has been jailed for defrauding the taxman out of more than £1.2 million.
Roger Ruby, aged 62, faked VAT claims for six years to claim back tax he never spent, a court heard.
But the hapless livestock farmer has been left in debt after ploughing the money into a failing business.
Ruby never lived a lavish lifestyle of luxury holidays and posh vehicles, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Jailing him for 32 months, a judge told Ruby had claimed almost half a million pounds in the final year of the fraud.
Judge James Townsend said: “This was not a case where someone fiddles the returns to a small extent to tide themselves over. This was theft from the public purse on a grand scale.
“I am satisfied you were not living high on the hog. The aim was to subsidise, if not to save a failing family business.”
Stock image of sheep grazing
Ruby, of Latchley, near Gunnislake, pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT between 2012 and 2018.
He cheated Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs out of £1,215,972.
Brendon Moorhouse, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Ruby farmed livestock, mainly sheep, at Tideford near Saltash.
He said the defendant vastly inflated his business expenditure on items he never bought.
The barrister added that the farmer then submitted fake VAT returns on the false sales to claim back the tax he had never paid.
Mr Moorhouse added for example that his declared expenditure for 2012 to 2103 was £315,000, when he only spent £61,000.
He said that as soon as the farmer confessed his crime as soon as he was contacted by HMRC investigators last year.
Ruby defrauded the taxman out of more than £1million (Image: File picture/Getty Images)
Mr Moorhouse said the CPS were not trying to seize his assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Mark Worsley, for Ruby, said his client had never lived a lavish lifestyle, never splashing out on expensive holidays and vehicles.
He added that it started off as a bid to launch his son in a contracting business, which was “doomed to failure”.
Mr Worsley said Ruby never had a business plan and completely underestimated the amount he needed for loan repayments and other expenses.
The barrister said: “It is not a tale of a greedy man trying to feather his nest. He has been left in debt.”
www.cornwalllive.com
Roger Ruby, aged 62, faked VAT claims for six years but money vanished into failing business
By
Stuart Abel
- 18:34, 14 OCT 2019
A farmer has been jailed for defrauding the taxman out of more than £1.2 million.
Roger Ruby, aged 62, faked VAT claims for six years to claim back tax he never spent, a court heard.
But the hapless livestock farmer has been left in debt after ploughing the money into a failing business.
Ruby never lived a lavish lifestyle of luxury holidays and posh vehicles, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Jailing him for 32 months, a judge told Ruby had claimed almost half a million pounds in the final year of the fraud.
Judge James Townsend said: “This was not a case where someone fiddles the returns to a small extent to tide themselves over. This was theft from the public purse on a grand scale.
“I am satisfied you were not living high on the hog. The aim was to subsidise, if not to save a failing family business.”
Stock image of sheep grazing
Ruby, of Latchley, near Gunnislake, pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT between 2012 and 2018.
He cheated Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs out of £1,215,972.
Brendon Moorhouse, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Ruby farmed livestock, mainly sheep, at Tideford near Saltash.
He said the defendant vastly inflated his business expenditure on items he never bought.
The barrister added that the farmer then submitted fake VAT returns on the false sales to claim back the tax he had never paid.
Mr Moorhouse added for example that his declared expenditure for 2012 to 2103 was £315,000, when he only spent £61,000.
He said that as soon as the farmer confessed his crime as soon as he was contacted by HMRC investigators last year.
Ruby defrauded the taxman out of more than £1million (Image: File picture/Getty Images)
Mr Moorhouse said the CPS were not trying to seize his assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Mark Worsley, for Ruby, said his client had never lived a lavish lifestyle, never splashing out on expensive holidays and vehicles.
He added that it started off as a bid to launch his son in a contracting business, which was “doomed to failure”.
Mr Worsley said Ruby never had a business plan and completely underestimated the amount he needed for loan repayments and other expenses.
The barrister said: “It is not a tale of a greedy man trying to feather his nest. He has been left in debt.”
Farmer jailed for huge £1.2million tax fraud
Roger Ruby, aged 62, faked VAT claims for six years but money vanished into failing business
www.cornwalllive.com
