Mayo-born London pub landlord sentenced for tax fraud

A Mayo-born London pub landlord has been given a suspended 20 month prison sentence for tax fraud, following a Revenue and Customs investigation that discovered £50,000 (€69,000) in cash.

Patrick O'Donnell (52), the former landlord of the Prince of Wales pub in St George's Road in Southwark used fake records for four non-existing employees to evade income tax and national insurance over six years.

Now living in St Agnes Place, Kennington, O’Donnell pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.

He was charged with being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of income tax contrary to the Taxes Management Act 1970 and fraudulently evading National Insurance contributions contrary to the Social Security Act 1992.

Gary Forbes Assistant Director, Criminal Taxes Unit, HMRC, said:

“O’Donnell thought he could get away with stealing taxpayers’ money to support his own lifestyle.

“He did not care that he was depriving pubic services of much needed funding or that he was exploiting legitimate publicans, who work hard to pay the tax owed and on time.

“This will send out a firm warning to those involved in this form of crime – your business and personal financial affairs will be fully investigated and we will seek to prosecute.”

O’Donnell was arrested in April 2014 and during a search of the pub where £50,000 in cash was seized. This was later confirmed as the proceeds of crime and further confiscation proceedings to reclaim remaining criminal profits are underway.