Cowboy builder claims poverty

A swindling builder who claimed more than £3 million worth of VAT repayments by setting up fake companies claims he cannot afford to pay back any more money. Peter Tillott, 61, was jailed for four years in 2012 after cheating the taxman by submitting VAT returns listing property purchases and building supplies that never took place. Tillott, who featured on Channel 5’s Cowboy Builders programme, pocketed £1.4m of the £3m he reclaimed in respect of six dummy companies in Buckinghamshire…