Cotswold racehorse owner jailed for £344,000 fraud (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Chipping Campden business director jailed for fraud

2:01pm Saturday 7th July 2012 in News

A COTSWOLD racehorse owner has been jailed following a £344,000 fraud.

Ian Beale, was jailed for two years and six months on Friday, following an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.

Beale admitted to systematically embezzling £190,942 from his employer and a further £153,110 from HMRC. He used the proceeds of his crime to purchase nine racehorses and fund the stables where they were trained.

The 57-year-old, of Westwood Top Farm, Weston Subedge, Chipping Campden, was a director of Worcestershire firm Evenproducts, and had sole responsibility for the company’s accounts including submitting VAT returns and making payments to suppliers However, he submitted false invoice payments and fake VAT input tax returns on supplies imported by Evenproducts, which manufactures and supplies water and irrigation tanks internationally.

Beale pleaded guilty to offences of theft and a common law charge of cheating the public revenue.

Adrian Farley, assistant director of investigation, for HMRC, said: “Beale was ruthless in his campaign to steal from his employer and ultimately the tax payer.

“Beale was ruthless in his campaign to steal from his employer and ultimately the tax payer.

Adrian Farley, HMRC

“He gained the company’s trust over a number of years and was promoted to director level. This did not satisfy him or provide any sense of loyalty. He continued to falsify business records for his own financial benefit.

“The prison sentence handed out by the courts today reinforces crime does not pay as well as the detrimental impact on his family, friends and the local community.”