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A financially struggling couple spent their inheritance on a high-end vacation rather than settling over £106,000 in private school tuition debts, according to court proceedings.

Gareth Sowter, aged 51, and Kim Sowter, 46, have registered all four of their sons at St Edmund’s College located in Ware, Hertfordshire.

However, since 2012, the couple, who are now separated, have never settled the tuition at the elite institution, where annual costs can reach up to £40,000.

They delayed payments to account managers for the £106,000 debt over many years by claiming they would soon inherit money from a will.

When the £208,166 inheritance was finally received in 2020, the couple declined to pay it out — and some of the money was used for a vacation.

Gareth Sowter, a person with a criminal recordVATscammer, also directed some of the funds towards relatives, acquaintances, and even one of his adolescent children to safeguard it from his debtors.

Over £15,000 of the overall gain was given to the lawyers who represented him in his VAT fraud case.

The couple was present at the Old Bailey in London, where Kim Sowter confessed to two instances of property fraud, and her former husband admitted guilt for eight charges.

She escaped jail time after receiving an eight-month sentence that was put on hold for 18 months.

However, her former husband was sentenced to 26 months in prison, with the judge stating that he spent the funds meant for the school on luxuries he couldn’t afford.

The court was informed that Gareth Sowter had previously committed a £367,812 VAT scam spanning three years.

He accomplished this by exaggerating invoices and fabricating bank records to reclaim funds from the tax authority for a number of businesses he controlled.

In May 2021, he received a 24-month suspended sentence for those offenses.

But it would later come to light that he had also been hiding the inheritance funds with relatives and friends just a month earlier.

He provided £50,000 to his former spouse, who in turn transferred £35,000 to a friend and £3,400 to her son in an effort to prevent the money from being taken by the school.

Judge David Jeremy said to him, “You managed to accumulate a significant debt by deceiving the school with tales of unpaid debts and promises that money was coming your way.”

When you were finally able to keep your promise and pay the school the money it was owed for educating your children, you chose not to.

Instead, you redirected the funds to friends and colleagues in an attempt to retain it for yourself.

Sowter, hailing from Ware in Hertfordshire, stated that his prior VAT fraud was “a poor decision” – however, the judge remarked: “It was not a poor decision.”

It was a decision made over many years to live far beyond your financial capabilities, as the pre-sentence report indicates you have a strong feeling of deserving more.

You are also inclined to be deceitful in order to fulfill that feeling of superiority.

Your feeling of being deserving led you to believe you were entitled to the better things in life, regardless of your ability to pay for them.

Judge Jeremy described fee-paying schools as “a soft target for dishonest parents.”

This is, he explained, due to their reliance on trust, and they are eager to avoid removing children because of unpaid fees.

“The victim is not only the school. It includes all the diligent, hardworking parents who frequently make significant sacrifices to send their children there, along with yours,” the judge stated.

Sowter stated he was attempting to safeguard his sons – however, Judge Jeremy held a different opinion.

“You failed to safeguard your children, yet you provided them with an education built on deception and deceit,” he stated.

The probation officer believed your regret was solely for yourself, and I agree.

The judge reviewed medical documents indicating that Sowter experiences anxiety and depression.

“I don’t want to come across as unsympathetic, but of course you do. You’ve been leading the life of a fraudster for years,” he said.

That’s a stressful and disheartening way to spend your life. You’ve created all of this for yourself.

Judge Jeremy stated that the couple’s offenses were made worse by the fact that they used their own son as a means to carry out their fraud.

He said to Kim Sowter: “You were manipulated by your husband to carry out these crimes according to his orders, but you were aware of what you were doing.”

You were aware of how the school was being deceived and you were informed about the VAT scam.

She trembled violently in the courtroom as Judge David Jerermy imposed a suspended sentence on her.

Sowter from Hertford expressed gratitude to the judge and trembled violently in the dock as he put her sentence on hold.

Chris Wood, the Head Investigator at the Insolvency Service, stated: ‘Upon an individual being declared bankrupt, the law mandates that any funds or assets they possess must be utilized to settle their debts, rather than being transferred to relatives and acquaintances.’

What makes this situation especially alarming is that Gareth Sowter had assured the school he would use his inheritance to settle the debts and then took the exact opposite action.

Kim Sowter added to the dishonesty by spending the money she received, including using part of it for family vacations.

Bankruptcy regulations are in place to guarantee that creditors are handled justly.

Anyone who misuses those safeguards through fraudulent asset transfers should be prepared to encounter significant repercussions.

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