A Lego-loving fraudster spent thousands of pounds on toys, home refurbishments, and trips to Disneyland.
Lee Hickinbottom, 49, worked with his former partner, Tabatha Knott, 34, to fraudulently submit £1.3m in VAT repayment claims to HMRC between 2014 and 2017. The 49-year-old submitted most of the claims through his Serenity Community Transport business and provided false invoices.
With the stolen cash the pair enjoyed dream holidays and visited Disneyland, the Louvre in Paris and the Empire State Building in New York. They also s pent hundreds of thousands of pounds buying and improving their Dudley home, which included splashing out more than £13,000 on a luxury hot tub that had to be installed with a crane.
