Former Darlington FC chairman loses tax scam appeal
Ex-Quakers chief fails in appeal aganist a three-year jail term for cheating the tax regulator out of more than half a million pounds
Former Darlington FC chairman George Reynolds has lost his appeal against a
jail sentence for cheating the Inland Revenue out of more than £500,000 and been
refused a cut in his jail term.
Reynolds was jailed for three years and Tennick, of Manfield, North
Yorkshire, for two years in October.
Reynolds, 69, of Monument Court, Nevilles Cross, Durham, and his cousin
Richard Tennick, 59, pleaded guilty to cheating HM Revenue & Customs out of
£650,000 in unpaid tax between 1998 and 2004. Other charges, including liability
by deception and money laundering, which they denied, were ordered to lie on
file.
Judge Guy Whitburn QC said it ‘beggars belief’ that Reynolds and Tennick did
not know they had to fill in their own personal tax returns.
The judge told Reynolds he had five years to repay £424,252.50 or face a
consecutive five-year prison sentence. Tennick has three years to repay
£225,747.50 or face a three-year consecutive sentence.