Prosecutors won’t be appealing sentence for pensioner killer
£160,000 VAT fraud man avoids prison
It provoked shock among some politicians, who called on the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
At the time, the authority announced it was reviewing the sentence to determine whether a challenge had any merit.
But following legal scrutiny a decision has been reached not to pursue the matter.
A PPS spokesperson said: “The sentence handed down to Margaret Henderson-McCarroll has been carefully considered and no legal basis has been found to refer it as an unduly lenient sentence to the Court of Appeal.
“An unduly lenient sentence is one that falls outside the range of sentence that a judge, taking into consideration all relevant factors and having regard to sentencing guidance, could reasonably consider appropriate.
“In other words, the sentence must not just be lenient but must be unduly lenient.”
It is understood that Mr Girvan’s family have already been informed of the PPS’s decision. A POYNTZPASS businessman who stole £160,000 through a VAT fraud has been handed a suspended sentence.
Between January 2010 and September 2012, James Henry Joseph Linden (38), the company secretary of Linden Agri Ltd, used his UK VAT registration number to purchase goods. He defrauded suppliers by making cheque payments which he did not honour.
He also used his registration number to import farming supplies VAT free from the Republic. He sold these within the UK, charging his customers VAT but failed to pass it on to HM Revenue and Customs, pocketing more than £160,000.
Linden was given concurrent 20-month prison sentences for each offence, suspended for three years, at Newry Crown Court on Wednesday, and ordered to pay £64,000 in compensation.