Twat In The Hat Is Sentenced

After his sometimes over-enthusiastic support of then clients Charles Saatchi and the Grillo sisters, which tipped over into forthright unpleasantness directed at Domestic Goddess (tm) Nigella Lawson, there was little sympathy on offer for PR man Richard Hillgrove, aka The Twat In The Hat, when he was hauled up before Bristol Crown Court on Income Tax and VAT evasion charges.

Twat Pictured Wearing Hat

As I noted at the time, the amounts unpaid totalled around £100,000. Even then, Hillgrove was unrepentant, and accused HMRC of all manner of impropriety. This was never going to be a successful strategy. And so it has proved, as, despite not having been imprisoned, he now has a criminal record. This is unlikely to change even if he carries out his threat to appeal.

The Western Daily Press has the details: “Recorder Robert Linford sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for two years ... The judge also ordered Hillgrove to pay £5,000 towards prosecution costs and complete 200 hours of unpaid work”. Hillgrove was told “You need to rebuild your life and pay the Government what you owe them”. So he still owes around £100K.

And, as the man said, there’s more: “The judge said Hillgrove’s defence during his trial had been ‘unpleasant’ at times. ‘There may have been an enthusiastic and tenacious prosecution but this was not a conspiracy against you,’ he added. ‘To suggest that it was is ludicrous.’” Quite so. And what the suspended sentence means in reality needs to be set out.

If Hillgrove fails to pay back what he owes HMRC, and they take him back to court within the next two years, the likelihood is that he will end up in jail – hence “suspended for two years”. In fact, he could end up doing two stretches. So he needs to do a little more of what Stanley Unwin called “nosey grindstone”, and a little less of that pointless confrontation with the tax authorities.

And, for once, it seems Hillgrove may be doing just that: the Hillgrove PR website, which has been given a suitably stylish recent makeover, contains no reference either to the “Richard Hillgrove News Opinion” blog, which made some particularly nasty accusations against Ms Lawson, or his “Daily Hillgrove”, which is still spewing appallingly biased PR guff on a variety of subjects.

His clients may not know about these less than savoury aspects of his behaviour. So links are helpfully provided, to let anyone know just who they are dealing with. In the meantime, if he wants to remain at liberty, Richard Hillgrove will stick to the PR, spend a little less on Himself Personally Now, and otherwise stay out of trouble. Which is a pity really, as I’ve enjoyed kicking the SOB.

If he can’t keep up the payments, there will be more on The Twat In The Hat.