Amelia Lily’s dad John Barry Oliver in disgrace after illegally pocketing almost £80k VAT
THE dad of X Factor star Amelia Lily was spared a prison sentence after he illegally pocketed almost £80,000 in VAT.
Company boss John Barry Oliver ploughed most of his ill-gotten gains into a grassroots football club.
The plumber illegally claimed thousands over a five-year period, swindling the cash by using false VAT reference numbers on 13 invoices between 2014 and 2019.
And Oliver - dad to Geordie Shore regular Lily, 26 - put around £71,000 of the cash into Northern League club Billingham Town, reports.
He served as manager at the club, and despite stepping down last year, is still understood to serve as the interim chairman.
The fraud was only uncovered after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) carried out a "standard investigation" into the VAT of Oliver's heating and plumbing business, JG Oliver & Son.
Today, he appeared in the dock at Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced for two charges of fraudulent evasion of VAT and 13 charges relating to making an article for use in fraud.
Jon Harley, prosecuting, said after HMRC contacted Oliver, he emailed officials to say he'd let them know a good time for a meeting - but then disappeared, and failed to respond to follow-up letters.
"The majority of the money was passed on to Billingham Town football club," Mr Harley said.
Simon Walker, mitigating, said Oliver, was a "family man" who had no previous convictions, but had now "lost his good name".
In 2012, the defendant suffered financial issues which he discussed with paper
During the interview, Oliver said: “It’s been a tough few years with the business and despite working all the hours God sends I’ve had to put it into voluntary liquidation and start up again under a new name, which is very sad for me because it’s my father’s heritage - he ran the company for more than 50 years.
“But Amelia getting through to the X Factor is what has kept me going.
“When Amelia got voted out of the show by her mentor Kelly Rowland, her brother Lewis said, ‘We haven’t seen the last of this’ and he was right.”
Lily placed third on the eighth series of the X Factor in 2011. She joined the cast of Geordie Shore last year.
Mr Walker called the defendant a generous boss who "had gone out of his way to help others less successful".
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Sentencing Oliver, of Marton-in-Cleveland, Middlesbrough, Recorder Simon Eckersley said he'd showed "genuine contrition, remorse and shame".
Oliver was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
He must also repay the full £79,789 within two years.