Tax fraud sentence appeal is rejected
A businessman jailed for his role in a 'very serious' tax fraud running into millions of pounds of public money has failed to convince judges he should be set free.
Marshall Boston, 46, of Loggerheads, near Market Drayton, was sentenced to two years after admitting being knowingly concerned in fraudulent VAT evasion at Kingston Crown Court in June.
Yesterday, his lawyers argued that judges should cut his sentence so he could be freed to continue treatment for mental health problems he has suffered for years.
But Lord Justice Richards, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Stuart-Smith rejected the appeal, saying the two-year term was fair for what Boston, of Hugo Way, had done.
Sentencing him, the crown court judge said Boston was one of the owners of a freight company, which he had allowed to play an 'indispensable' part in a much wider fraud.
The plot, masterminded by another man, involved the import and export of mobile phones, with fraudulent claims made for VAT refunds.
The prosecution said the fraud involved £100 million, but Boston did not know that and was shocked at the scale of the scam.
