Some people go to great lengths to try and evade paying their taxes but we’ve never heard before of a company 
director pretending to be a spy. He’s ended up with a prison sentence after stealing more than £1.6 million in tax.
Raymond Thomas, 71, of Kings Lynn, told family and friends he was a spy often working abroad, but he was in fact travelling to various holiday homes funded entirely from a VAT fraud.
The fantasist told HMRC investigators he worked for US Homeland Security and produced key components for a drone.
He even complained to the Prime Minister ‘as a desperate measure’ to obtain money withheld by HMRC, claiming he worked ‘fiercely and patriotically in the protection of the citizens of this country and others’.
He lived a life of utter fabrication and lied to pretty much everyone he knew. In reality he was evading the taxman by commiting VAT fraud.
Mr Thomas claimed to run a business called Cambridge Computer Graphics (CCG) that he said manufactured and serviced aviation radar systems. He also claimed to have worked for the US Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
But HMRC’s investigation found the business was a sham and he had created a string of false invoices using hijacked company details to support fraudulent VAT refund claims between 2008 and 2013.
The crime was uncovered after a HMRC officer visited CCG and found discrepancies in his business records following a claim for £98,000 in 2014. During the visit, Mr Thomas said his work for the US meant he had to destroy associated paperwork.
However checks with the US departments and other alleged suppliers, including leading defence and airline companies, revealed no business took place and invoices provided to HMRC were forged.
While the investigation was ongoing, Mr Thomas had his accountant, who was unaware of the fraud, send a letter of complaint to The Prime Minister, The Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Executive of HMRC warning the company would close if VAT claims were not paid.
In another letter of complaint, it was claimed his company had ‘recently developed a critical component of an information gathering drone under contract to the dept of defense’.
The conman told friends and family he was a spy and claimed to be working overseas when he was actually holidaying with his wife, Susan Weston, 69, at properties they owned in Berlin, Kefalonia and Perpignan.
His wife helped launder the stolen money in and out of the business using her personal bank accounts.
The pair were arrested for money laundering at their Salford home after HMRC officers found Mr Thomas had sent £81,700 to his wife’s account in August 2014.
Throughout the investigation Mr Thomas maintained he was working for Homeland Security and said: “Everything will come out in the wash in the end.”
Mr Thomas admitted to VAT fraud, money laundering and producing false documents at Manchester Crown Court on 21 July 2017 and was sentenced to 56 months in prison at the same court on 1 November 2017.
His wife was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for money laundering.
HMRC are now trying to recover the stolen money.
