Family jailed for £45m VAT scam

A FAMILY who stole £45million from taxpayers in a VAT scam were jailed for a total of 27 years yesterday.

Geoffrey Copp, 56, his brother Andrew, 50, and his son Joshua, 24, had spent the money on luxury cars, designer watches, mansions and trips to Las Vegas.

They ran firms providing payroll services, adding VAT at 20 per cent on invoices. The Copps declared they had earned £20million and forwarded £4million in VAT when in fact they had taken £250million and should have paid nearly £50million in VAT, Wood Green Crown Court in North London heard.

The three men were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and money laundering from 2012 to 2015. Yesterday Geoffrey was jailed for tenand-a-half years, his brother was sentenced to nine years and Joshua was handed an eight-year prison sentence.

Judge Noel Lucas QC said they had ‘frittered away huge sums’ at a time when Britain ‘was made to tighten its belt’.