Lawyer convicted of tax fraud

A MANCHESTER lawyer has received six-month suspended jail sentence for tax fraud.

Howard Bradshaw, 59, of Chorlton, was convicted after an investigation found he had billed clients for £48,000 of VAT which was not passed on to HM Revenue & Customs.

Bradshaw was a self-employed barrister who practised on the Northern circuit in family and criminal law from 2002 until 2009 when he was suspended by the Bar Council for matters relating to bankruptcy and the failure to maintain his certificate of professional competency.

In addition to the suspended jail sentence he must carry out 200 hours of community work.

Mike O’Grady, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: “Bradshaw was suspended by the Bar Council and subject to personal bankruptcy proceedings before this fraud came to light. He continued to use the defunct VAT number for tax evasion, which was blatant theft from the public purse. He thought he was above the law, but someone in his profession should have known better than to try to cheat the system.”