[A] COMPANY director has confessed to a £47,500 VAT fraud part-way through her crown court trial.
Maxine Brooks, 55, had initially denied one fraud charge. She went on trial at Carlisle Crown Court today (TUES).
But this afternoon, during the hearing, Brooks changed her plea to guilty. She admitted defrauding Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, to the tune of £47,543, between February 2014 and November 2016.
Jurors had earlier been told how bogus VAT returns were filed electronically in respect of a cleaning company she owned but which had ceased trading. These generated VAT repayments which were then paid into bank accounts which Brooks, of Armathwaite, either controlled or had access to.
Judge Peter Hughes QC adjourned the case and granted Brooks bail. He asked for the preparation of detailed medical and psychiatric information on the defendant, who is due to be sentenced at the court on June 6.
