Fake butcher and ex escape jail sentences

A FAKE butcher and his exwife have been handed suspended prison sentences for a £278,000 tax and benefit scam.

Javed Khan, aged 50, of Oakwood Road, Sparkhill, was part of a gang that claimed to be buying sheep carcasses and selling prepared cuts to wholesalers – but the sheep did not exist and an HMRC investigation in 2012 found the men had fabricated invoices in a bid to reclaim £907,000 in VAT they claimed had been ‘paid’ on the sheep. All nine were convicted of VAT fraud in 2013. But Khan evaded detection at the time. Khan’s then-wife, Sajida Yousaf, of Nansen Road, Sparkhill, had also allowed the proceeds of the fraud to pass through her bank account.