New gran burst into tears after '£1.2million scam' lands her in jail

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A new grandma ‘cried in the dock’ after she was jailed for posing as an accountant in a scam potentially worth up to £1.2million. Lyn Karran submitted fake expenses claims to HM Revenue and Customs on behalf of dozens of clients, swindling the public purse out of at least £300,000 in doing so, the Echo reported.

The 46-year-old is now beginning a four-and-a-half year prison sentence, only days after the birth of her first grandchild. The nan previously ran a firm by the name of LK Accounting Services, Liverpool Crown Court heard on September 7.

Between October 2015 and 2017, she acted as an "unauthorised tax agent" - making fraudulent repayment claims for her customers in order to "enrich herself".

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Karran, who is also known as Lyn Wilson, secured a total of £1.2million for 150 clients - most of whom were plumbers and heating engineers whose work she gained through word of mouth and liaised with via WhatsApp - during this period. Peter Killen, prosecuting, described how they were "generally on a PAYE taxation basis and unfamiliar with the self-assessment scheme".

She instructed them to register for self-assessment and provide her with their personal details, giving her control of their accounts. Karran, of Tithebarn Lane in Melling, never asked the workmen to provide receipts and never told them of the value of the claims being made in their names.

These included backdated payments from up to three years earlier. They paid her a flat fee of £150 plus 10% of the rebates earned, netting her around £190,000.

Karran's company also had a "misleading" website which "gave the impression it was a professional registered