Conbelievable

BY SALLY HIND s.hind@dailyrecord.co.uk A CRIMINAL jailed over a £850,000 tax scam has landed a job briefing prison chiefs on security after being released early.

Michael Howard was locked up for three years in 2017 alongside his now ex-wife Donna Mackay after the pair conned the public purse out of the huge sum while splashing out on cars and exotic holidays.

But the 46-year-old, from Motherwell, is already free and back in business – advising bosses at the Scottish Prison Service on security upgrades like CCTV and fingerprint access systems.

Insiders told the Record that Howard was at the SPS’s Edinburgh HQ in recent weeks as a sub-contracted project manager with Argus True ID.

He landed the job after being granted early release and is still just two years into his three-year sentence.

The source added: “Howard is providing a service to the SPS for a major biometrics company. What we don’t understand is why an ex-prisoner would be allowed to work within any of our establishments. I can’t believe this ex-con is allowed to be involved in any high-security project.”

Howard and Mackay, then 44, were convicted of orchestrating the massive tax scam while running their multi-million pound security systems business. The pair failed to pay £531,400 in VAT between February 2010 and December 2013.

Mackay was also jailed for three years and nine months for failing to pay £150,892 in income tax and £162,731 in National Insurance.

We tried to approach Howard at the home he formerly shared with his wife but a woman told us he didn’t live there. The firm employing Howard, Argus True ID, said they are happy with his work.

A spokeswoman added: “ATID have a stringent onboarding and screening process, which Michael completed.

“As an organisation, we passed all the details of this process to SPS before the start of our works. SPS were happy with the role Michael would be undertaking during the project.”

An SPS spokesman said: “Any contractors working for the SPS are subjected to vetting procedures.”