Yacht Red Handed

Tycoon who lived a life of luxury with TWO sailing boats and THREE houses is really just a ruthless fraudster who conned £300,000 from taxpayer

- Rory Cassidy

A Tycoon who led a playboy lifestyle on the high seas and used his charity work as a smokescreen has been exposed as a fraudster and jailed for 16 years.

Joseph Quinn, 64, conned the taxpayer out of £300,000 as he financed three homes and two yachts.

The businessman was rumbled when tax officers carried out a check.

He had built a reputation as a philanthropist, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity.

A YACHT-LOVING tycoon who lived a lavish lifestyle and painted himself as a charity hero has been caged over a £300,000 fraud.

Joseph Quinn touted himself as a philanthropist who climbed Kilimanjaro for charity. And he enjoyed a luxury lifestyle with two yachts and three houses.

But Quinn, 64, was actually a conman who has been jailed for 16 months for VAT fraud at four Scottish firms.

He ripped HMRC off for nearly £280,000 when he bought one of his yachts from the government body after it was seized by police.

Quinn, from Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, was accused of trying to obtain £309,866.92.

He netted £279,329.79 by submitting bogus claims for VAT repayments from HMRC.

His plan fell apart when local compliance officers from HMRC carried out a check.