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.
THIS astonishing film shows the moment a hit-and-run driver ploughed into a woman and a toddler on a Coventry street .
INSIDE Britain's last Naval hospital where scurvy was cured looks like an NHS time capsule .
SKIPPING on the spot, an adorable little owl embraces the 'running man' challenge .
HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .
A cheeky gorilla sticks her tongue out and plays up for the camera at Bronx Zoo .
AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .
Fetching a tiny carrot and a head-shaped snowball, a red squirrel builds the perfect snowman .
A Brit photographer has captured one of the world's most camera-shy species of fish - during a game of underwater peek-a-boo .
Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS - 250 DRIVERS ARRESTED FOR STREET RACING IN BIRMINGHAM- In Pic - The start line on the Heartlands Parkway Nechels Birmingham .
A hungry hippo is seconds away from catching a bird in its gigantic jaws .