An estranged Armagh married couple who generated elaborate hoaxes in a £610,000 VAT beef farm fraud have been jailed at Newry crown court.
Joseph Cassidy (50) of Killyfaddy Road was sentenced to 18 months.
Anna Cassidy (51) of Drumarg Park was jailed for 15 months.
The sentence will be served with 50 percent in custody and 50 percent on licence.
The co-accused pleaded guilty to fraudulent evasion of VAT and transfer of criminal property on dates from July 1, 2001 to April 9, 2015.
Seven further charges of fraud have been left on the books. No restitution has been made for the falsely claimed money with both co-accused initially “blaming each other” for the tax offences.
A prepared trial date was withdrawn just days before court proceedings when the co-accused were re-arraigned after initially denying the charges.
The significant VAT fraud on goods valued at £2.4 million was uncovered following an early morning HMRC raid of the Tassagh 20-acre farm.
Business bookkeeper, Ms Cassidy, whose name was on the farm bank account, was recorded as saying, “I’ve done nothing wrong” during the home search.
Documents were removed from three vehicles and from the family home including bank statements from 2011 to 2015.
Fifteen VAT repayment claims were identified with up to £60,000 per quarter falsely claimed.
HMRC was alerted to the claims partly due to the paperwork being submitted just days before deadline dates.
A handwriting expert, using samples of Ms Cassidy’s handwriting identified her as the ‘bookkeeper’ of the family farm. This was supported by the fact that Mr Cassidy was illiterate, having left education to look after the farm following the early and sudden death of his father some years ago.
Prosecution outlined a “failure of HMRC” to follow up on some of the hoax excuses used by the farming couple to explain a lack tax documents.
The court heard that amongst the bizarre excuses used, Mr Cassidy invented an accountant out of thin air by the name of ‘Mr Devlin’ and then claimed that he had “committed suicide”.
Mr Cassidy, who has 25 previous convictions, then told HMRC that his paperwork had gone missing when his accountant’s home was cleared out following his funeral. A HMRC investigation later found that no such person existed.
On another tax request for documents, Mr Cassidy told authorities that his car, containing tax documents had been stolen and burnt out in Co Monaghan.
Defence said that Mr Cassidy’s beef cattle business had fallen on hard times when he struggled with bad ill health from 2009 with surgery on a brain cyst leading him to a life in benefits.
"His farm and house will now be sold and he will be left desolate," said his barrister. "The money claimed was simply absorbed into the business, there was no personal benefit, this was personal disintegration."
The court heard that Mrs Cassidy had left the “toxic” marital home in December 2016 with only her own clothes and that of her daughter and stayed in her parents’ home.
The court heard that Ms Cassidy claimed to be under duress to continue the fraud due to the violent home dynamic with her husband.
Judge Gordon Kerr alluded to pre-sentence reports of the estranged couple involving domestic abuse in the marital home.
“However, I find no exceptional circumstances in this case when it comes to sentencing,” he said.
Confiscation proceedings will begin in court in May 2020.