Owner and tipster hit with £200,000 fine and suspended sentence

A Teddington businessman with racing connections has six months to pay a financial penalty of £200,000 with a jail sentence hanging over his head after admitting tax evasion.

Michael Waddingham, 44, has had shares in racehorses and is a director of bookmakers Excelbet, registered at Wallington in Surrey.

Waddingham was given a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years at Kingston Crown Court after admitting tax fraud in January.

The court was told he had repaid the £281,000 tax owed after failing to submit his self-assessment tax returns between 2008 and 2012 during which time he ran property companies. Waddingham failed to declare rental income and more than £100,000 a year in payments for his directorships.

HMRC also reported Waddingham had been involved in two betting syndicate companies, Friends of the Turf Racing of Maidenhead, and Sports Services (MGM) Ltd of London.

Following his arrest in 2015 HMRC forensic accountants worked with Waddingham's own accountants to calculate the total income tax and capital gains tax he owed.

Waddingham was also given a 200-hours community work order to be completed in 12 months, a six-month curfew between the hours of 8pm and 5am with electronic tag, and a victims support charge of £425.