The owner of a hair loss clinic who appeared on television and radio giving hair loss advice has pleaded guilty to a £37,872 VAT fraud.

Gary Heron, 57, was the sole director of The Hair Centre (UK) London Ltd, based in 50 Broadway near St James' Park in Westminster.

Heron created fake purchase invoices which he used to make nine fraudulent VAT return claims submitted to HMRC between November 2011 and March 2014.

Heron, a trichologist with more than 30 years experience according to his LinkedIn page, pleaded guilty to fraudulent evasion of VAT and to submitting false invoices.

He was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Southwark Crown Court on June 16.

The Hair Centre's website (accessed June 23, 2017)

He was also ordered to pay a compensation order of £40,000 within 28 days, or face 15 months in jail and still owe the money to HMRC.

Heron will have to complete 100 hours of community work and has been disqualified as a director for 12 months.

Christopher Gill, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Gary Heron showed a disregard for UK tax law by committing VAT fraud. It is simply not acceptable to obtain an illegal advantage over business competitors, and steal from honest taxpayers.

“HMRC will continue to pursue criminals who attack the tax system, and recover the proceeds of crime. We ask anyone with information about suspected VAT fraud to contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

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