Darwen fraud cabbies ordered to hand over £250k

11:40am Tuesday 14th October 2008

A DARWEN mother and son involved a VAT fraud have been ordered to handover £250,000.

A judge fined Norma Astley, proprietor of Bolton-based Metro Cars, £50,000 and ruled that she has realiseable assets of £70,000.

Her 41-year-old son Nicholas Astley, who ran the day-to-day business, was fined £75,000 and has had £45,000 confiscated.

At a hearing in September he was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for two years and his 64-year-old mum received a nine-month jail sentence also suspended for two years.

Judge David Harris, QC, then warned the couple, who share a home in Bury Fold Lane, Darwen, that he would impose fines on them.

Following out-of-court discussions at Liverpool Crown Court an agreement was reached and approved by the judge.

Mrs Astley faces 18-months imprisonment if she does not pay the fine within 15 months and two years jail if she does not hand over the £70,000 confiscation figure within six months.

Nicholas Astley has nine months to pay the £75,000 sum or two years imprisonment and six months to pay his fine or face 18 months jail in default.

It was agreed that their realiseable assets were the same sum as their benefit figures.

Norma Astley was convicted earlier this year of 14 offences involving making false VAT statements to the Customs and Excise and four involving false statements to the Inland Revenue between 2002 and June 2005.

Nicholas Astley pleaded guilty to two of the Inland Revenue offences spanning 2002 and 2004.

Judge Harris suspended prison sentences on the couple after being moved by a moving letter signed by nearly all their 200 plus cabbies and seeing about sixty of them turning up in support at each hearing.