Four men who stole almost £9m in VAT fraud and blew cash on gold bullion, diamonds and luxury cars jailed

By DAVE FINLAY FOR THE SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL Published: 16:08, 21 April 2026 | Updated: 16:10, 21 April 2026 Four men who stole almost £9million in a VAT fraud and spent it on gold bullion, diamonds and cars have been jailed for a total of 22 years. Leslie Thompson, Graeme Cullen and Graham Newall were convicted of the scheme, involving the fraudulent evasion of £8.8million worth of VAT, earlier this year The offending, between September 2015 and June 2017, was aggravated by a link to serious and organised crime. A fourth man, Martin Lang, pled guilty to more limited involvement in the crime between February and December in 2016 involving £4.8 million of tax money. The dirty money was spent on gold bullion, diamonds, fast cars, a £1million home and plans for a luxury property development in Bulgaria. A judge told them at the High Court in Edinburgh that the scheme involved significant planning and was ‘sustained dishonesty’ committed over a lengthy period of time. Lady Hood told them: ‘You each appreciate that a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable.’ She jailed Thompson, 63, of Bathgate, West Lothian, for seven years, Cullen, 54, of Giffnock, Renfrewshire for six years and Newall, 49, of Edinburgh for five and a half years. Graham Newall, 49, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars for his role in the crime Lang, 68, of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, was sentenced to four years. They were involved in a scheme to charge VAT on invoices to various firms for ‘payroll services’ but instead of the money going to HMRC they siphoned it off and passed some on to associates. The money also funded the purchase of gold, diamonds and fast cars. The four men took part in what was described as an ‘incredibly simple’ but ‘well-organised’ scheme. A number of firms were involved, including Linear Services, based in Livingston, West Lothian. Linear was ‘open for business’ in September 2015 using a client base from a company that had been shut down by HMRC. The trial was told VAT was charged on invoices to various firms for ‘payroll services’. Prosecutor William Frain-Bell KC said during the trial: ‘The tax collectors in this case were a group of individuals who never had any intention of parting with the VAT.’ The cash was siphoned off from various bank accounts to those involved as well as associates and family members. Mr Frain-Bell explained: ‘In short, it was simple. Set up the structure, get recruitment clients on board, collect as much VAT money as possible before HMRC cottoned on. Leslie Thompson, 63, was jailed for seven years by judge Lady Hood at the High Court in Edinburgh ‘Get it shipped out abroad to America and Bulgaria, buy as much gold bullion and diamonds as possible, as you saw from Leslie Thompson’s bank statements. ‘Throw in luxury four-wheeled treats, smart clothes, watches, holidays and fancy restaurants.’ He added: ‘There were the trips to Malaga, the Grand National, fast cars including Audi RS5s, Range Rovers and Mercedes.’ Thompson, who was described as the “kingpin’, Cullen and Newall had all denied the offence during their earlier trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Defence counsel Michael Anderson KC, for Thompson, said that he continued to maintain that he was innocent. He said: ‘He has lost everything, or is about to lose everything. He is about to lose his family home.’ Thompson was jailed for six years in 2023 at a London court for conspiring to cheat the public revenue. Mark Moir KC, for Cullen, said he previously worked for a number of accountancy firms and was assessed as posing a minimum risk of future offending. Graeme Cullen, 54, was handed a six year sentence after the £8.8 million VAT fraud Martin Lang, 68, was sentenced to four years after pleading guilty to a more limited involvement in the crime involving £4.8million of tax money John Scullion KC, for Lang, said he had accepted responsibility and co-operated and gave evidence at the trial.  The defence counsel said his client did not keep good health. Defence counsel Gail Gianni said that Newall was visited ‘by persons of bad character’ which started his troubles. He said he was ‘genuinely remorseful’ and recognised he should have involved the police at an early stage. Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said following the hearing: ‘I hope this sends a clear message to anyone involved in tax fraud that regardless of how complex it may be, we have the skills, resources and the determination to bring you to justice. ‘The scale of the prison sentences reflects how seriously we view this offending against the UK tax system. ‘Tax fraud is not a victimless crime. It steals money that funds the public services we all rely on in Scotland and the rest of the UK. ‘These four individuals have now been brought to justice to account for their crimes.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.