MY BIG FAT £1M TAX BILL
Businessman cleared of attempting to slash his cousin at a gypsy funeral named and shamed by HMRC over massive default
A BUSINESSMAN who was accused of a slashing a rival across the face in a brawl at a gypsy funeral has been revealed as one of Scotland’s biggest tax cheats.
Robert Lowe has been ordered to pay HMRC almost £1million in unpaid tax and fines.
The 57-year-old former steel firm boss has been named and shamed on a list of deliberate tax defaulters over an eight- ye a r “undeclared income” bill totalling £586,279.
He was previously cleared of attempting to kill a cousin and his son after they were knifed and run over in the car park of a Lanarkshire crematorium four years ago.
HMRC chiefs hit the businessman, who was pictured on a luxury holiday about the time his company went into liquidation last year, with additional penalties of £410,395.
Lowe is understood to be one of HMRC’s top targets in their regular published lists of tax avoiders and is one of the highest amounts in recent times.
An HMRC spokesman said naming Lowe, of Ayrshire, publicly was one of the tools used to deter people from tax evasion.
He said: “We are committed to making sure people pay the tax they owe.”
Lowe and fo rme r co-accused Daniel Lowe walked free from court after a jury found them not guilty of the funeral attacks in 2018. They had denied attempting to murder their cousin Nathaniel Lowe and his son James while attending the funeral of Larkhall Traveller “Big” John Connor at Daldowie Crematorium in Uddingston in November 2016.
The Record told at the time how mourners were
We are committed to making people pay their taxes HMRC SPOKESMAN ON NAMING LOWE PUBLICLY
slashed after th e y began scrapping 15 minutes before the service for Connor – also attended by Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Dimples McPhee.
When the case came to court two years later, Nathaniel Lowe, 50, wept as he claimed he was slashed and run over by his cousins.
He told Glasgow High Court his son James, 21, was slashed on the face by Robert Lowe, who cut him from the “top of his head to his nose”. The dad claimed Lowe slashed his face and “repeatedly cut” him when he tried to help his son.
The court heard Lowe had said: “I will kill you this time you b*****d”.
The victim also said he “thought he was dead” as he and James were then run over by who he claimed to be Daniel Lowe.
But both men were later found not guilty of any involvement in the attacks.
Lowe was pictured on holiday in what appears to be Thailand in April last year, the month his firm was issued with a winding up notice.
HMR C chiefs confirmed this week that Lowe deliberately defaulted on tax between April 2010 and April 2018. They listed his address in Newmilns.
Lowe did not reply to attempts to contact him.