A jailed airport car park boss must repay almost £300,000 in stolen tax or face another three years in prison.
Brian Pearson, was jailed in October 2017 for three years and two months after HMRC found the Manchester Airport ‘meet and greet’ parking boss stole more than £466,000 from his employees’ Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions.
He was ordered to repay £297,993 within three months, or spend another three years in prison and still owe the money at a confiscation hearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on 13 September 2019.
Pearson ran MIA Secure Parking, a ‘meet and greet’ parking service based in Sharston, Wythenshawe, which later became UK Premier Parking. Both companies operated parking services focused on nearby Manchester Airport.
HMRC raided Pearson’s home and business seizing records, computers, payroll books, employee and financial documentation in March 2015.
The seized payroll books were blank, but employee records and salary statements proved that Pearson was taking Income Tax and NIC for up to 60 of his employees. None of which was paid to the regulator.
Diccon Wood, assistant director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Pearson lived the good life while stealing from his own workers as well as the public. His actions put him in jail for a considerable time.”
He now faces losing assets including a villa in Portugal, a personal pension and ISA savings.
