A woman wept as she was jailed for helping run a Chinese takeaway that paid no tax for years.
Chuan Xie and her husband Guang Lin, owners of Shanghai on Two Mile Hill in Kingswood, illegally avoided £215,955 in tax between 2012 and 2017.
Xie, 39, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison today (May 3), after Lin, 43, was handed a term of three years and three months on April 24, both having admitted fraud.
The mum-of-four, of Hillside Road, cried as she was led to jail by security following the sentencing at Bristol Crown Court.
During her husband’s sentencing, she wailed, rolled around on the floor of the dock, headbutted a wall and struck Lin on the back of his head
Judge Mark Horton delayed Xie’s sentencing to allow her to make arrangements for the care of her children, who are aged from five to 16.
“I was not satisfied that adequate care had been taken by you or your husband to ensure your four children were going to be properly cared for,” he told her.
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When the next hearing was held on April 29, Judge Horton criticised the defendant for again having failed to make arrangements.
He said: “I am left with the impression these children are being treated like a parcel, like things that will be moved around and don’t matter.”
The case was adjourned to today, when the court heard social services were satisfied with plans for care.
Simon Worlock, mitigating, pleaded with the judge to suspend Xie’s sentence.
He argued her 16-year-old daughter’s upcoming GCSE exams could be thrown into turmoil by an immediate jail term.
Mr Worlock said a suspended sentence would allow the takeaway to “limp on”.
He added: “That represents the best chance the state has of recovering the money that ought to be paid.”
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But Judge Horton said Xie could only be dealt with by an immediate prison sentence.
Quoting the 2011 case of R v Khan, he said: “Having children is not some form of licence which entitles a mother to commit whatever crime she likes, however serious, and avoid the normal consequence of offending.”
The judge told the defendant: “This whole scheme was devised and run by you and your husband to completely avoid revenue tax and VAT.
“Undoubtedly there will be an interference with family life [when Xie goes to prison]. The interference, in my judgement, is in accordance with the law.”
He said he hoped the sentence would provide a deterrent against fraud.
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In a previous hearing the court heard the couple had sent hundreds of thousands of pounds to China, which was then sent back and used to purchase a house outright with no mortgage.
The judge said Xie “weaved a tissue of lies to explain the tortuous and inexplicable web of companies set up to avoid income tax”.
