A Hartlepool company director who fraudulently claimed almost £1 million in VAT repayments and spent the money on Las Vegas trips, gambling and luxury goods has been jailed for six years and 10 months.

Gary Briggs, 52, of Dalton Piercy, Hartlepool, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday 3 November after pleading guilty to two offences of cheating the public revenue and three counts of entering into a money laundering arrangement.

Thirteen false VAT returns

The court heard Briggs set up two companies, Goldrose Construction Limited and Goldrose Demolition and Developments Limited, and submitted false VAT returns for both between 2019 and 2020.

Between June 2019 and February 2020 he submitted false returns for Goldrose Construction and fraudulently received £645,000. Between August 2019 and February 2020 he submitted false returns for Goldrose Demolition and Developments, fraudulently receiving a further £335,000.

In total, Briggs fraudulently received £980,000. Prosecutor James Lake told the court he submitted 13 fraudulent VAT returns in total, relying on false transactions, and laundered £69,605 into the accounts of three family members. Money was also transferred to accounts in the UK and the United States.

Las Vegas spending and a Rolex

Mr Lake said a huge amount of the fraudulent VAT payments was spent on high-value gambling. Briggs spent thousands of pounds during trips to Las Vegas, including £5,000 at Caesars Palace and just over £30,000 at Vegas Auto Gallery, the city’s largest car dealer. He also bought a Rolex watch funded by the VAT repayments.

Mr Lake described the offences as sophisticated, planned and persistent, and said Briggs was caught after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs.

The court heard Briggs had 14 previous convictions for 51 offences, 27 of which were for dishonesty, and had been jailed for 18 months for fraud in 2010.

Judge: “You knew exactly what you were doing”

Sentencing Briggs, Judge Gavin Doig said: “You knew exactly what you were doing. You frittered away money on gambling and high-value retail purchases, hotels and transfers to US banks and UK withdrawals.”

Caleb Suggitt, defending, said Briggs, who is married with two adult children, had shown genuine remorse and was the financial linchpin of his family. He said Briggs accepted the acts were deliberate dishonesty that caused financial loss to the public purse, and that the scheme was short-lived and carried out during significant financial difficulty. Mr Suggitt said Briggs is now employed as a building consultant for a Las Vegas-based company, earning $20,000 a month.

A proceeds of crime hearing will take place on 17 May.