A fraudster who paraded as a solicitor in an attempt to help a client avoid a £19,000 tax debt has been jailed.
Unemployed Harlesden man Nicholas Moss claimed to work for a law firm in north west London and forged a court document which claimed to come from a high court judge clearing the bill.
Moss represented his “client” at Willesden County Court in June 2012, where a county court judgement was awarded in favour of the HMRC for the outstanding tax debt.
But five months later, the HMRC received a letter from the client’s accountant together with a forged judgement, originating from the Community Law Project in Harlesden, appearing to have been issued by the Right Honourable Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales, quashing the client‘s debt.
Moss then went a step further, demanding tax repayments to be made to his client, but was arrested in June 2013.
Peter Millroy, assistant director of criminal investigation at the HMRC, said: “Moss purposely and blatantly tried to manipulate the UK justice system, creating a fake document he believed would be seen as legitimate and issued by a High Court Judge.
“This criminal action undermines the work of UK law enforcement agencies and the judiciary and is one we take extremely seriously.
“He will now have time to reflect on his actions behind bars.”
Moss was sentenced to 22 months on Friday after pleading guilty to a charge of acting as a solicitor, and was found guilty by a jury of making a false instrument under the forgery and counterfeiting act.
On sentencing, Mr Recorder Sells QC said: “You were seriously dishonest and abused the judicial system for your own ends.”
The judge also activated a suspended sentence for a previous conviction for giving immigration advice when not authorised to do so.
