Brothers face jail for construction firm £7m tax fraud used to buy boats, cars and holiday homes
06.06.2023 - 16:55
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A construction company boss is facing a lengthy prison sentence after committing a tax fraud that ran to more than £7m.
Mark Stead, who was the director of Pink Innovations and Pink Services Ltd, a construction installation firm, lived an illegitimate life of luxury. The 49-year-old spent his ill-gotten gains on boats, caravans, holiday homes and putting his children through a private education.
But devious Stead also dragged four other people into his elaborate scheme – including his wife and brother, reports Hull Live. His brother David Stead, 61, was also told he faces prison.
The two men appeared at Hull Crown Court on Friday alongside Mark Stead’s wife Jennifer Everett, 44, Denise Milestone, 61, and Benjamin Wragg, 32. All had previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges except for David Stead, who was convicted after a trial.
Mark Stead ran the business on the Estuary Business Park, on Henry Boot Way, Hull, and in the village of Laceby near Grimsby.
From 2010 to 2018, Mark Stead embarked on a campaign of tax evasion at his two companies. During that time he pocketed nearly £7m by failing to pay VAT and almost £250,000 by deducting national insurance from employees’ pay, but failing to pass it on to Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Between July 2015 and July 2017 the director, of Ulceby, near Grimsby, drafted in his wife and his brother, as well as Milestone, who was his personal assistant, and Wragg, an IT consultant, either to falsify documents or lie on his behalf. This was in order to cover up a paper trail of deceit when compliance officers from HMRC came to inspect the company’s records. During this time, some £2,235,000 of the £7m fraudulently gained by Mark Stead was pocketed.
Only Mark Stead and his wife, also of