A prolific
fraudster, who used a string of aliases, was jailed for a total of
seven years today at Southampton Crown Court for illegally
reclaiming £118,000 in VAT and committing forgery.
Alison Reynolds (48), who has a theatrical background, used at
least 15 different names and identities in recent years. Extensive
investigations by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers
revealed that Reynolds falsified purchase invoices and Companies
House documents, used various bank accounts, false identities and
a string of mail box addresses to defraud the revenue.
Reynolds used aliases to register for VAT and submitted four
VAT repayment claims totalling £118,000.
During the investigation HMRC officers discovered various
identity documents, including passports and driving licences in a
number of names. They also found signatures practised on sheets of
tracing paper. Forensic analysis of Reynolds’ computer uncovered a
letter on theatre company notepaper suggesting one alias went
missing in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. They also discovered
‘to-do’ lists with reminders of “VAT invoices to fake”.
On at least two occasions Reynolds met VAT inspectors at
short-leased rented office accommodation in Bristol, and at other
times in her elderly mother’s home, to give the mostly mail-box
fronted businesses an air of legitimacy.
John Cooper, HMRC Assistant Director Criminal Investigation
said:
“The complexity of this crime would have required
detailed planning. Not only did Alison Reynolds commit fraud on
paper, but she also adopted the different persona and appearance
of her aliases. During the extensive three year investigation HMRC
officers uncovered 15 names and identities used by Alison
Reynolds, some of which were used to commit the VAT fraud. She
also committed forgery by falsifying the often legitimate
signatures of others.
“The calculated attack on the VAT system not only robbed the
exchequer, and therefore honest UK taxpayers, of public funds, but
is also unfair to respectable businesses that diligently abide by
the rules. We will not hesitate to pursue those who commit this
kind of crime. Anyone with information about suspected tax fraud
can call our Customs’ Hotline on 0800 59 5000 or email customs.hotline@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk”.
Reynolds was jailed today for six years after pleading guilty
on 4 November 2010 to four counts of cheating the public revenue
(VAT Fraud) and four counts of forgery / fraud. These included
possessing a false UK driving licence, falsifying – and then using
- a forged legal document to change her name and forging a letter
from HM Revenue & Customs suggesting a VAT repayment was due.
She was also sentenced to 12 months for breaching a
restraining order and Perverting the Course of Justice, in
relation to police offences. The sentences will run consecutively.
Upon sentencing, His Honour Judge Ralls QC said:
“What
sticks out is the staggering level of dishonesty in the case. I’ve
not seen a case that involves such detail of fraudulent
activity...The level of your dishonesty is breathtaking.”
In relation to the VAT fraud he added that this was “using
the public purse as your own private piggy bank.”
Prosecutor Cairns Nelson QC said:
“The defendant is a
dishonest fantasist” who, he added, had “woven a web of deceit.”
The offences pursued by HMRC were committed between July 2003
and January 2008. HMRC and its prosecutors will seek confiscation
proceedings to recover criminal profits.
Notes for editors
1. Photographs are available.
2. Alison REYNOLDS, (DOB 17/06/62) remanded in custody since
August 2010 after being found guilty of Perverting the Course of
Justice and breaching a restraining order, of 4 Seafield Road,
Southampton, SO16 9NT was sentenced to a total of seven years, and
disqualified from being a company director for ten years.
3. Alison Reynolds was born Virginia Ruth POVALL, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
4. In relation to the HMRC case, Alison Reynolds was arrested by
HM Revenue & Customs’ criminal investigators at her
women’s clothes shop ‘Belle Gray’ in Lymington, Hampshire on 15
January 2008, a business she ran under the name of Jane
Ditchfield. She was charged at Bitterne Police Station,
Southampton on 2 June 2009.
5. She pleaded ‘not guilty’ to 20 offences at Southampton
Magistrates’ Court on 2 September 2009. At Winchester Crown Court
on 4 November 2010 she entered ‘guilty’ pleas to eight offences.
The remaining offences will stay on file.
6. Reynolds was sentenced today at Southampton Crown Court in
relation to:
HMRC case (six years)
* four charges of Cheating the Public
Revenue contrary to common law (VAT Fraud). (Counts 1,4,6 and
8)
* one charge of Possessing a False Identity Document
contrary to section 25 of the Identity Cards Act 2006. (Count
19)
* two charges of Making a False Instrument contrary to
section 1 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. (Counts 2
and 13)
* one charge of Using a False Instrument contrary to
section 3 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. (Count 14)
Police case (12 months)
* breaching a Restraining Order,
imposed at Chester Magistrates’ Court in October 2002, by using a
different name and not informing the court or police.
*
perverting the Course of Justice by submitting a false Statutory
Declaration to the court regarding unpaid parking fines
originating from Nottingham in 2002. Reynolds was found guilty of
this offence in Southampton in August 2010.
Cheating the Public Revenue
7. The four businesses each registered for VAT by ALISON REYNOLDS
and through which she committed the VAT repayment fraud totalling
£118,020.98 are:
Plan B Theatre Productions, trading as Plan B Theatre
a) ‘VAT
1’ registration form signed in the false name of CLAIRE THOMAS on
behalf of the above business
b) VAT returns which falsely
overstated the amount of VAT credit due
c) Purchase invoices
were false
Business address registered as: Studio 203, 14
Clifton Down Road, Bristol, BS8 4BF (believed to be a mail box
address)
Fraud took place between 1 January 2004 – 21
September 2007.
10 false VAT returns submitted, with
£62,353.78 paid out by HMRC. At least £51,690.87 was over-claimed.
Dreamweavers Theatre Company
a) ‘VAT 1’ registration form
signed in the false name of REBECCA PERRY on behalf of the above
business
b) VAT returns which falsely overstated the amount of
VAT credit due
Business address registered as: 41 Hamilton
Road, Sheffield, S5 6NG (believed to be a mail box
address)
Fraud took place between 8 July 2003 – 12 October
2005.
Seven false VAT returns were submitted, with over
£38,672.30 paid out by HMRC. At least £36,333.34 was over-claimed.
Myths and Mirrors Theatre Company
a) ‘VAT 1’ registration
form signed in the false name of CATHERINE LEWIS on behalf of the
above business
b) VAT returns which falsely overstated the
amount of VAT credit due
Business address registered as: Suite
428, 275 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EW (believed to be a mail box
address)
Fraud took place between 19 May 2004 – 16 January
2006.
Six false VAT returns submitted, with £26,141.61 paid
out by HMRC. At least £21,625.09 was over-claimed.
Gossamer Web
a) ‘VAT 1’ registration form signed in the false
name of JESSICA MAYNARD trading as the above business
b) VAT
returns which falsely overstated the amount of VAT credit
due
Business address registered as: 1 The Green, Romsey,
Hampshire, SO51 7UA (A former home address for Reynolds – no
evidence this business ever traded)
Fraud took place between 5
July 2004 – 12 October 2005.
Six false VAT returns submitted,
with £20,749.07 paid out by HMRC. At least £20,719.28 was over-claimed.
8. The total amount of VAT paid out by HMRC in relation to these
four companies is £147,916.76. A forensic accountant’s report
suggests that around £17,500 of the VAT reclaimed in relation to
the three theatre companies may have been allowable, along with
around £12,000 of expenditure that couldn’t be allocated to a
particular company – totalling £29,895.78 of expenditure that
can’t be proven either way. This means Reynolds fraudulently
claimed VAT totalling £118,020.98.
9. VAT registered businesses must charge VAT on the selling price
of any goods and services that are liable to VAT. This is known as
‘output tax’ and must be paid to HMRC.
VAT registered businesses can reclaim VAT paid on their business
purchases. This is known as ‘input tax’.
In simple terms the amount of VAT that can be reclaimed as a ‘VAT
repayment’ is the difference between the VATable sales (output)
and VATable purchases (input).
Possessing a False Identity Document
10. On 15 January 2008 ALISON REYNOLDS had in her possession a
false UK driving licence in the name of JANE DITCHFIELD which she
knew or believed to be false, intending to use the same for
establishing registrable facts about herself. The licence bore
Alison Reynolds’ photograph.
Making a False Statutory Instrument
11. ALISON REYNOLDS on or about the 22 February 2006 made an
instrument namely a letter that purported to be written by an
officer of HM Revenue & Customs, which was false with the
intention that she or another should use it to induce somebody to
accept it as genuine and, by reason of so accepting it, to do or
not to do some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice. The
letter suggested a VAT repayment was due.
12. ALISON REYNOLDS between 3 November 2005 and 14 June 2006 made
a Statutory Declaration, dated 4 November 2005, in relation to a
change of name from KATERINA MALLORY to ALISON REYNOLDS, which was
false in that it purported to be signed by a solicitor, who did
not in fact sign the instrument, with the intention that ALISON
REYNOLDS or another should use it to induce somebody to accept it
as genuine and, by reason of so accepting it, to do or not to do
some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice. It is
believed that Reynolds used a solicitor’s stamp from a solicitors
firm where she had previously held a temporary clerical job.
Forensic analysis of Reynolds’ computer uncovered a letter on
Dreamweavers Theatre Company notepaper suggesting Mallory went
missing in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.
Using a False Statutory Instrument
13. ALISON REYNOLDS between 4 November 2005 and 14 June 2006 used
the (above) statutory declaration with the intention of inducing
an employee of HSBC bank to accept it as genuine and, by reason of
so accepting it, to do or not to do some act to the prejudice of
HSBC bank or any other person’s prejudice.
IDENTITIES / ALIASES
14. In relation to the three year criminal investigation HMRC
officers discovered 15 identities used, or believed to be used, by
Reynolds.
15. Six of these identities are directly linked to today’s
sentencing. The following four are the names of real people known
to Reynolds and whose identity, or partial identity, she used to
perpetrate crimes:
Claire THOMAS, Rebecca PERRY, Catherine LEWIS, Jane DITCHFIELD
A reason for the choice of the following aliases is not known:
Jessica MAYNARD, Katerina (also known as Katrina) MALLORY
16. The following nine names are identities or aliases believed
to have been used by Reynolds in the past, some of which have
links to today’s sentencing:
Gina ANDERSEN, Denise BRYAN, Verity CONNOR, Claire ELIOT, Chess
ELIOT, Vanessa Justine GALBRAITH, Alison KENNEDY, William POVALL,
Caitlin THOMAS,
17. The names of some those above and those of other friends,
family and acquaintances were fraudulently used as
counter-signatories, company directors and company secretaries by Reynolds.
18. Follow HMRC on Twitter @HMRCgovuk
NAT 35/11
Issued by HM Revenue & Customs Press Office
Press enquiries only please contact:
Contacts:
Jonathan Hall
Phone: 020 7147 0052
jonathan.hall@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
Sara Pont
Phone: 020 7147 0394
sara.pont@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
HMRC Out of Hours
Phone: 07860 359544
NDS.HMRC@coi.gsi.gov.uk