RSS feedsFormer Darlington FC chairman George Reynolds has lost his appeal against a jail sentence for cheating the Inland Revenue out of more than £500,000 and been refused a cut in his jail term.
Reynolds was jailed for three years and Tennick, of Manfield, North Yorkshire, for two years in October.
Reynolds, 69, of Monument Court, Nevilles Cross, Durham, and his cousin Richard Tennick, 59, pleaded guilty to cheating HM Revenue & Customs out of £650,000 in unpaid tax between 1998 and 2004. Other charges, including liability by deception and money laundering, which they denied, were ordered to lie on file.
Judge Guy Whitburn QC said it 'beggars belief' that Reynolds and Tennick did not know they had to fill in their own personal tax returns.
The judge told Reynolds he had five years to repay £424,252.50 or face a consecutive five-year prison sentence. Tennick has three years to repay £225,747.50 or face a three-year consecutive sentence.
