'Brazen' Manx couple who evaded £4.6m in VAT jailed

John and Patricia Moore were found guilty of the offences in November 2020

A husband and wife who submitted false sales records to evade more than £4.6m in VAT in a "deliberate" act have been jailed on the Isle of Man.

John Moore, 72 and of Meary Voar, was jailed for seven years for deliberately filing incorrect invoices on three land sales between 2010 and 2019.

Patricia Moore, 71, was sentenced to three years and six months for one count of tax evasion in 2019.

Deemster Dermot Main Thompson said the offences were "brazen in their extent".

The couple, who were the directors of two development companies - Sheratan Ltd and Greenbank IOM Ltd - were found guilty at trial at Douglas Courthouse in November 2020.

A jury found that John Moore had deliberately submitted false records relating to land sales in July 2010 and July 2014 to Customs and Excise.

It also unanimously found the couple had purposefully filed an incorrect invoice on a sale from March 2019 while under investigation for the first two offences.

In sentencing, Deemster Main Thompson said John Moore was a "manipulative and controlling" man who had a "cynical and arrogant belief he was untouchable".

Attempts to "frustrate" the legal process by claiming to be unable to talk due to his ill-health had been "transparently bogus", he added.

John Moore was sentenced to seven years for each of the first two offences and three years and six months for the last, to be served concurrently.

Deemster Main Thompson said Patricia Moore had appeared "pressured and intimidated" by her husband, but had "participated in full" in the final offence.

He added that the evasion had been a "deliberate and planned act for the benefit of the Moore family and their lifestyle".