SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lady Hood made the following comments in court:

"Leslie Thompson, Graeme Cullen, and Graham Newall, on 16 March 2026, you were found guilty by the verdict of the jury of a charge of being knowingly concerned in the taking of steps with a view to the fraudulent evasion of Value Added Tax.  The offending spanned a period of around two years, and the amount of VAT fraudulently evaded was in the sum of over £8.8 million.  The offence was aggravated, in terms of section 29 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, by a connection with serious and organised crime.

Martin Lang, on 30 January 2026, during the trial, you pled guilty to an amended version of Charge 1.  The offending to which you pled guilty occurred over the period of just under one year, and the sum of VAT fraudulently evaded was in the sum of over £4.8 million.  Your offending too was aggravated by a connection with serious and organised crime.

Over the course of a trial lasting a number of weeks, the jury heard the details of the payroller fraud perpetrated, and in which you each played a role.  Significant sums of money were charged as VAT, but not paid over to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.  As the court heard, these monies should have been used to fund, for example, frontline services:  instead, they were distributed amongst yourselves and others:  funding, in varying degrees, your lifestyles.  This scheme involved significant planning and organisation on your part, and sustained dishonesty over a lengthy period of time.  Any sentence imposed for an offence of this nature, must not only punish the offender, but also protect the public by deterring others who may be tempted to become involved in such activity.  You each appreciate that a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable.  The legislation provides that for an offence under section 72 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 which has been committed prior to 22 February 2024 (as is the case with your offending), this can be punished with a maximum of 7 years imprisonment.

Leslie Thompson, you are 63 years old.  You have one previous summary conviction in Scotland which is not analogous.  Concerningly, however, in 2024 you were convicted in the Crown Court in England and Wales of conspiring to cheat the public revenue over a period from 2011 to 2014, resulting in the fraudulent withholding from HMRC of over £20 million in VAT.  I take into account the terms of the detailed Criminal Justice Social Work Report setting out your background circumstances, as well as the submissions in mitigation advanced on your behalf this morning by Mr Anderson KC.  As the CJSWR makes clear, you take no responsibility for your actions and continue to blame your co-accused in varying degrees.  You played a leading role in the fraudulent scheme, from which you profited considerably, and have an analogous conviction in the Crown Court in England:  I consider all of this a significant aggravation.  In all of the circumstances, in respect of Charge 1, I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of 7 years, of which nine months is referable to the statutory aggravation.  The sentence will be backdated to 16 March 2026, the date when you were first remanded into custody for this matter.

Graeme Cullen, you are 54 years old, and have one previous conviction, which is not analogous and was at summary level, and to which therefore I attach no weight.  I take into account the terms of the detailed Criminal Justice Social Work Report setting out your background circumstances, as well as the submissions in mitigation advanced on your behalf this morning by Mr Moir KC, and to the character references which have been provided and which draw attention to your dedication to your family.  When interviewed by the author of the CJSWR, you continued to attempt to argue that you are not technically responsible for the fraudulent evasion of VAT which you accept did occur, and attempted to place blame on your co-accused.  You also played a leading role in the scheme, and through your offending obtained monies and luxury goods.  Although you have not previously been sentenced to imprisonment or detention, given the nature and seriousness of the crime of which you have been convicted, no other method of dealing with you is appropriate.  In all of the circumstances, in respect of Charge 1, I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of 6 years, of which nine months is referable to the statutory aggravation.  The sentence will be backdated to 16 March 2026, when you were first remanded in custody.

Graham Newall, you are 49 years old, and have one previous conviction which is at summary level and not analogous and to which I therefore attach no weight.  The sentence which I am about to impose reflects that the jury made one deletion to the Charge, when returning the verdict with respect to yourself.  I also take into account the terms of the detailed Criminal Justice Social Work Report setting out your background circumstances, as well as the submissions in mitigation advanced on your behalf by Ms Gianni this morning, which drew particular attention to your caring responsibilities, and I also take into account the character reference provided in this connection.  I take into account too that you expressed remorse when interviewed by the author of the CJSWR, and accepted that you benefitted financially from your offending.  You understand that you should have involved police when you first came into contact with organised crime.  However, you too played a leading role in a major fraudulent scheme.  Although you have not previously been sentenced to imprisonment or detention, given the nature and seriousness of the crime of which you have been convicted, no other method of dealing with you is appropriate.  In all of the circumstances, in respect of Charge 1, I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of 5 years and 6 months, of which nine months is referable to the statutory aggravation.  The sentence will be backdated to 16 March 2026, when you were first remanded in custody.

Martin Lang, you are 68 years old.  I take into account the terms of the detailed Criminal Justice Social Work Report setting out your background circumstances, as well as the submissions in mitigation advanced on your behalf by Mr Scullion KC this morning.  You too played an important role in a serious fraudulent scheme.  In speaking with the author of the CJSWR, however, you did express remorse, and explained to the author of the CJSWR that you tendered the guilty plea because although you had suspicions of something untoward, you took no steps to remove yourself from, or to end, the situation.  In determining the appropriate sentence to impose, I take into account that you tendered a plea of guilty during the trial – and, indeed, that you had offered to plead guilty in those terms prior to the balloting of the jury, but this was then tendered at a point in time convenient to the Crown.  Furthermore, you then gave evidence for the Crown, and the Advocate Depute confirmed that was of assistance in the Crown’s presentation of their case.  The Charge to which you pled guilty was an amended charge, such that it was restricted both in terms of the amount of VAT fraudulently evaded and the period of time over which the offending occurred.  The Crown’s position too on the statutory aggravation is that this is limited to your involvement with your co-accused.  You do, however, have one previous conviction:  which is analogous, being a conviction for embezzlement at High Court level.  That is a significant aggravation, which I must weigh up with the mitigating factors which I have outlined.  In all of the circumstances, in respect of Charge 1, I sentence you to a period of imprisonment of 4 years, of which three months is referable to the statutory aggravation.  This sentence has been discounted from a period of 4 years and 6 months to take account of the timing of your plea.  The sentence will be backdated to 16 March 2026, when you were first remanded in custody.”

21 April 2026