Ex-Grand Hotel Boss Caught Pocketing Nearly Half a Million in Staff Taxes
Michael Stainer, the former owner of The Grand hotel, has been convicted for stealing £473,097 from his staff’s tax payments. His wife, Doris Stainer, 60, faced the same charges but was cleared of wrongdoing.
The Great Tax Swindle
During the trial, the court heard how money meant for HMRC was ripped straight from staff pay-packets by Stainer. Prosecutor Anthony Hucklesby revealed, “The Grand was employing around 50 staff and paying them net wages, but no PAYE or national insurance contributions were ever made during the period in question.”
After a routine visit by a tax official, Stainer tried to explain himself, but the company’s PAYE account had long been cancelled due to inactivity. It was a years-long fraud that fooled the system and short-changed public services.
HMRC Hits Back
Richard Wilkinson, assistant director of HMRC’s fraud investigation unit, slammed Stainer’s actions: “We welcome today’s conviction of Michael Stainer, an employer who was stealing from his own staff. Instead of funding vital services like hospitals and schools, this stolen money lined his pockets.”
Fall of a Royal Favourite
Stainer, a chartered accountant, owned The Grand — once a favourite hangout for royalty — for more than four decades. But after his bankruptcy, he was forced out. Last year, the building’s leasehold residents snapped up the former hotel at auction for just £448,000.
