U-boat 'captain' gets jail
THE Self-styled U-boat captain who converted a narrowboat into a replica submarine on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal has been jailed for nearly five years for defrauding Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs of over £1million.
Richard Williams was jailed for four years and eight months at Manchester Crown Court over the fraud which was claiming VAT back on non-existent specially shaped beds for people with disabilities, amounting to over £1million, Alan Tilbury tells us.
Leeds Armouries
Richard Williams and his U-boat had been featured in narrowboatworld after he created it from a narrowboat and cruised the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, finally taking a permanent berth at Leeds Armouries.
He was arrested way back in January 2012 (U-boat 'captain' arrested) but it had taken over three years to sort out his nefarious dealings and eventually bring him to court.
During the time of the fraud he was claiming benefits, but gave himself away with his lavish lifestyle of buying boats, including £50,000 on converting a narrowboat into the U-boat, expensive cars and hiring jets to take his wife and himself to Europe, squandering the money.
Raided the U-boat
It all came to an end when HMRC officers raided his U-boat whilst it was moored at Leeds and discovered evidence of the fraud that involved claiming VAT on false invoices for special beds for the disabled that were non-existent over a period of five years between 2005 and 2010.
He had created three companies, Sleepability, Ortho-matic and Discount Mobility Store and submitted false invoices to claim back VAT from HMRC, with the claims being £343,549 for Sleepability, £416,700 for Ortho-matic and £257,255 for Discount Mobility Store, a total of £1,017,505.
No beds no sales
But the invoices were false, as no beds had been supplied and no sales had taken place, with the only business being that of manufacturing false invoices and managing the various bank accounts he had set up.
He had actually used the identity of Richard Williams, a fellow narrowboat owner and had used his date of birth and National Insurance number to change his name by deed to Captain Richard Williams from his original name of Steven Howarth.
Done the crime...
Before the hearing, Richard Williams bragged:
His now ex-wife Laurel Howarth, was also jailed but for 20 months for her part in the fraud."In five years we never sold one bed. We made a fortune but got caught, and I will take the punishment. We went all over the world like a couple who had won the National Lottery. We had a great time—now I'll do the time.