A FAMILY who swindled the taxpayer out of £400,000 in tobacco duty have been sentenced.

Vickey Whalley, a 46-year-old mother of two, sourced counterfeit and non-duty paid cigarettes and tobacco which she then sold online from her home at Corner Brook, Lostock.

She was helped by husband Paul Whalley and her mother Lynn Abbey.

Earlier in the trial, Bolton Crown Court heard that Vickey Whalley “took the lead” in selling tobacco and cigarettes via social media and websites named Dan Dan Doo and Vic Vic Voo, often using the false cover of selling t-shirts and cupcakes.

The family’s activities were discovered following a HMRC raid on a storage unit hired by Vickey Whalley and they were arrested in December, 2016.

However the family continued to sell the illicit tobacco products after their arrests and evaded around £396,000 in duty during the course of their enterprise.

At a hearing in May a jury found all three family members guilty on two counts of fraudulently evading duty on tobacco and cigarettes after two days of deliberation.

At a sentencing hearing at Bolton Crown Court yesterday, defending Vickey Whalley, Martin Taylor described her as a”loyal, hard working and family orientated” woman, who was “a rock” to the couple’s two children and relatives.

The 46-year-old was a volunteer for charity and worked full-time as a manager in the public sector. “There is a lot of good in the life of Vickey Whalley,” Mr Taylor said.

Defending Paul Whalley, Gemma Maxwell described him as “a man of positively good character”, who has been employed since he was 12-years old.

“He is thoroughly ashamed of his involvement,” Ms Maxwell added.

The court also heard that Abbey had been working as a nighttime psychiatric nurse at the time of the offences and was of previous good character and standing.

Defending Abbey, Stuart Neale, said the 68-year-old had become involved in the offending due to “maternal trust”.

Addressing the defendants, Judge Graeme Smith said: “This is undoubtedly a very sad case.

“It is sad because the three of you, all previously of good character, were of a close, hard working family; and that has now been ruined because of the decisions made to illegally deal in tobacco.

“That sales business grew in size to be a huge operation. But, if your evidence is to be believed, that led to little profit to you.”

In tears, Vickey Whalley kissed and hugged her husband and mother as she was jailed for four years on her birthday. Judge Smith refuted suggestions that she had been a smaller part of a wider illicit tobacco trading system, saying: “You answered to no one but yourself.”

“I find it astonishing that you contemplated continuing to break the law after you had been arrested,” he added.

Paul Whalley, also of Corner Brook, was sentenced to 18 months in prison suspended for two years, and must complete 240 hours unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation requirement days.

Judge Smith said: “You were less involved than your wife, but you knew more about the business than you are willing to admit. You are clearly someone for whom rules are very important and I can see how you find it difficult to accept how you broke the law in this way.

Abbey, of Fourth Avenue, Heaton was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months, and must complete120 hours unpaid work.

Judge Smith said he took Abbey’s previous good character fully into account, but added: “You were well aware, at least to some extent, of what was going on.”

Tim Atkins, assistant director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This family pocketed money that should have gone to our public services. Their attempts to hide their illegal operation behind cupcakes, drinking cups and t-shirts were utterly futile.Tobacco fraud cheats the public purse and undermines the honest majority of businesses who play by the rules.”