These are just some of the high-flying criminals who thought they could escape a life of crime. Fraudsters squandered the money, spending their ill-gotten gains on luxury cars and vacations.
Two business bosses created fake invoices from bogus companies to avoid paying £1.3 million in tax. Another elaborate tax scam saw a former couple conspire together to submit fraudulent VAT refund claims to HMRC.
Meanwhile, another fraudster fled the UK during a trial centered around a £500,000 number plate scam – and spent more than five years on the run, boasting of a life of luxury meeting celebrities and flying aeroplanes. You can read more about all three cases in our summary below.
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The heads of textile firms evaded £1.3 million in tax
Bosses at a Midlands textile firm set up fake subcontractors to avoid paying £1.3million in tax. The pair created fake invoices from fake companies so they wouldn’t be liable for VAT.
Ehsan-Ul-Haque Dawood Patel and Hifzurehman Patel then spread their ill-gotten gains on cars and properties. Fraudsters set up Midlands Trading Ltd in 2014, with HMRC first suspicious of the firm’s activity the following year.
In 2015, an unannounced inspection took place at the factory in Benson Street, Spinney Hills, Leicester, with a specialist task force finding that workers’ work cards had ‘completely disappeared’ during their visit, with fake invoices too , LeicestershireLive reports. .
Hifzurehman was convicted by jurors at Leicester Crown Court of conspiracy to evade VAT and two counts of money laundering and jailed for five years. Ehsan was jailed for 47 months after pleading guilty to the same three charges.
The £1.3m fraudster blew a fortune after his obsession with Lego
This fraudster spent £1.3m of taxpayers’ money on his obsession with Lego, fancy cars and luxury holidays. Lee Hickinbottom’s elaborate tax fraud saw him conspire with ex-partner Tabatha Knott, 36, to submit fraudulent VAT refund claims to HMRC.
The ‘voracious career criminal’ spent £1,500 on Lego sets, went to New York’s Empire State Building and blew £250,000 on cars including a Jaguar F Pace, Jaguar XF and a Land Rover Defender. Hickinbottom submitted most of the claims to his fictitious business Serenity Community Transport and provided false invoices. He also admitted benefit fraud of £28,000.
Hickinbottom, from Dudley, was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to multiple charges of defrauding the public revenue (HMRC and DWP). Knott was found guilty of one count of defrauding the public revenue and one count of money laundering and was given an 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.
The fugitive fraudster lived a life of luxury on the run in Dubai
Birmingham fraudster Zahid Khan spent more than five years on the run after fleeing the UK in 2018 during his trial for a £500,000 number plate fraud. He shamelessly mocked the police and the courts with regular Facebook posts, showing off his luxurious life as a fugitive.
Zahid spent most of his years on the run in Dubai, where he continued to brag on Facebook about his life of luxury, meeting famous people and flying planes. In 2021 he traveled to Turkey, where he was arrested in November 2023 and deported back to the UK.
Four Turkish police officers accompanied him on a flight to Manchester, where he was greeted by UK police on the plane upon arrival on 22 December. Khan was taken to Birmingham Magistrates’ Court the next day charged with failing to surrender. Here you’ll find the full story of his ten-year wild ride as a con artist who cynically portrayed himself as a Ferrari-loving, celebrity-mingling, homeless-helping, millionaire pilot and businessman. successful, which was simply the target of ‘jealous haters’.
