Essex fraudster with seven Audis stole £3 million from his boss and Covid Bounce Back loans

anglia 201023 Rhys Jackson mugshot. credit HMRC
Rhys Jackson, from Chelmsford in Essex, stole more than £3m from his employer. Credit: HMRC

An Audi-loving financial controller stole more than £3m from his employer - and profited from Covid bounce-back loans.

Rhys Jackson - who owned seven of the high-end cars at one point - caused his firm to go into administration, costing dozens of jobs, a court heard.

The 56-year-old from Chelmsford, in Essex, also fraudulently claimed for three government-backed Covid loans, pocketing £150,000.

Jackson made more than 600 transfers totalling £2.9m from Watson Refrigeration Ltd to 12 of his bank accounts between 2014 and 2018, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

The company, which employed around 40 people at the time, went into administration as a result.

An Audi R8 with a number plate that reads 'Big PJ' - one of Rhys Jackson's seven Audis Credit: HMRC

A director who launched a new business venture, JCW Mechanical Ltd, was then the victim of further thefts from Jackson.

From April 2018, 184 transfers totalling more than £326,000 were moved to Jackson's accounts from the JCW Mechanical Ltd bank account.

Jailed for nine years, he was convicted of 14 offences - including theft, fraud, fraudulent evasion of VAT and acting as a shadow director of a company which contravened his disqualification order.

He was previously jailed in 2007 for more than seven years, for stealing from a previous employer and he was banned from being a company director for 15 years.

An Audi A5 that belonged to fraudster Rhys Jackson. Credit: HMRC

Judge Alexander Mills told Jackson: “This was a sustained and deliberate abuse of trust just years after you had come out of prison for doing it before.

"You offered help and support to get the second company on its feet then continued to take money from that.”

Steve Doyle, from the fraud investigation service at HMRC, said: “This case began as a tax fraud investigation, but it quickly became clear that Jackson was targeting numerous victims.

“Not only did he defraud the UK taxpayer by submitting false VAT claims, but he also stole eye-watering sums of money from his employer, as well as Covid Bounce Back Loan cash.

“We will always follow the evidence to bring fraudsters to justice and to ensure there's a level playing field for those who abide by the law."

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