A married couple from Northern Ireland have been jailed after admitting a £4.6m (€5.14m) tax fraud.
Gerry Small, 56, and his wife Mary, 50, stashed millions of pounds in offshore bank accounts and failed to declare tax worth £4.6m (€5.14m) over a period dating back to 1995.
Belfast Crown Court Judge Anthony Hart jailed Mr Small for three-and-a-half years and Mrs Small for two-and-a-half.
The judge said of Mr Small: 'He was prepared in a dishonest and unedifying fashion to shift as much of the blame on to his wife as he could.'
The judge said the couple built at least 20 new houses with the money - originally gained from their builders' merchants in Dungannon, Co Tyrone - and lived in a sprawling 12,000 square foot mansion.
Customs officers who raided the premises discovered £492,238 in cash at the property, stuffed into a concealed safe.
Mr Justice Hart added: 'Such was the scale of the defendants' tax evasion that the prosecution have confirmed that this is by far the largest case of its kind to come before the Crown Court in Northern Ireland.'
