Family trio jailed for record £45m tax fraud

A family of fraudsters has been jailed for a total of 27-and-a-half years after being found guilty of stealing more than £45m in the largest payroll VAT scam uncovered in the UK.

Geoffrey Copp, 55, his son Joshua Copp, 24, and brother Andrew Copp, 51, were sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court on 9 June. Geoffrey was jailed for 10-and-a-half years, Joshua received eight years and Andrew was handed nine years.

The trio ran Central Payroll Specialists (CPS), which was later rebranded as Quality Premier Services (QPS). These were umbrella payroll companies, which were used by recruitment agencies to manage the wages of thousands of temporary workers.