Overview
- Robert Venables KC is facing three counts of cheating the public revenue at Southwark Crown Court and he denies the charges.
- Prosecutors say Venables underdeclared income from 2014 to 2021 and paid almost £2 million less tax than he should have, with one account of the claim putting the shortfall at about £2.7 million.
- The case turns on earnings routed through the RVQC Partnership, where the prosecution says profits were distributed to reduce Venables’s personal tax liability.
- The prosecution told jurors this is alleged dishonest evasion rather than lawful tax avoidance and asked the jury to decide if the discrepancies were deliberate or an honest mistake.
- Venables is a long‑standing specialist in tax law who often represented taxpayers against HMRC, and a conviction could bring criminal penalties and damage his legal career.