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.
MASKED intruders look sinister but really they are a gang of urban exploring pranksters .
SWIMMING in unison, millions of silverside fish dwarf the divers .
THIS DANGER-mad female pensioner could be the oldest Brit to cage dive with CROCODILES .
An Australian explorer has travelled the globe with a toy pig, known as Travel Piggy, in search of a missing cuddly companion .
GLAMPING is taken to a whole new level in the form of the luxurious Pop-Up Hotel .
Meet the human CCTV: a PCSO with a memory for faces so sharp he has apprehended more than 130 suspects in the last year alone with his eagle eyed talents .
A DETERMINED great blue heron holds on tightly to its prey as the furry gopher attempts to wriggle free .
A luxury caravan with a price tag of ONE MILLION DOLLARS is due to hit the road later this year .
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 .
SURROUNDED by a snowstorm, these young polar bears battle the elements - as well as each other .
WELCOME to the pretty 122-inch-tall red dwelling that lays claim to the title of the UK's smallest house .
PICKING up a tiny tea-pot with its paws, a little red squirrel struggles to prepare its morning tea .