A man who conned tax officials out of £34 million and funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury hotels and restaurants has been jailed for one of the longest sentences in British criminal fraud history. Thomas Scragg, 56, was jailed for a total of 17 years following three separate fraud convictions against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) ~ the latest, in March 2011, for stealing millions of pounds in employee PAYE tax. The conman from Solihull, West Mids. used his business Moya Payroll which managed staff wages of construction industry companies to steal over £26m in tax over a five year period between 2002 and 2007. Other investigations revealed a further £8m of stolen PAYE tax in a 10-month period from April 2007 to February 2008.His co-defendant, Paul Phillips from Derbyshire, was jailed for nine years.The latest conviction for offences in March 2011, followed a joint investigation by West Midlands Police and HMRC.The extent of Scragg's racket has remained a secret until now as cases against his two henchmen Carl Johnson, 49, and his brother Anthony, 51, from Wolverhampton progressed through court.
SOARING through the air, this is the moment a hungry tawny owl arrives home with dinner .
Soldiers standing guard outside the Woolwich barracks in London - Two terror suspects are under armed guard in separate hospitals in London after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street .
Swimming side by side with divers, these manatees will do anything they can to stay warm .
A lazy tree frog, tired of hopping along a branch, chooses the slowest form of transport when it jumps on top of an unsuspecting snail .
STARING eagerly into the camera, this little toad is full of curiosity .
LEAF-ing much to the imagination, this camera trickery is blooming marvellous .
BALANCING 30 metres above ground, these slackliners take the expression of living dangerously one step further, by tightrope walking NAKED .
THEIR gnarling teeth at the ready, these two baboons fight it out for the last piece of fruit .
THIS may look like a dolphin through jumping hoops, but it is in fact nothing more than a clever 3D pencil drawing .
WELCOME to the Temple of Zoom where you can “experience” sliding down a Mayan temple into shark infested waters .