A FRAUDSTER who used her theatrical background to assume a string of alter egos to illegally claim £118,000 in VAT has applied to change her name again - this time legally.

Alison Reynolds fraudulently used 15 different identities to falsify documents and defraud her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Now, as she is released from jail, she wants to change her name again.Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

Reynolds, 51, stood at Southampton Crown Court – three years after being sentenced to seven years for admitting eight fraud charges.

She was released from Holloway Prison on Friday.

Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

Reynolds refused to answer when asked to confirm her name by Judge Peter Ralls QC.

Barrister Elaine Stapleton told the court her client now wanted to be known as Caitlyn Thomas.

Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

Crown Prosecution Service barrister Chris Badger pointed out that Reynolds was previously prosecuted in 2011 under her name but had requested to be known as Jessica Maynard when sentenced.

The court discussed documents released at the sentence which recommended she should be known as either Reynolds or Maynard.

Aliases They discussed how it would impact on probation services after her release.

Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

Judge Peter Ralls ruled there were no restrictions on her changing her name but he warned she would have to inform the probation services and the prison.

He said: “It’s a matter for them to supervise and provided they know you are going to be known as that name there’s no problem.”

Reynolds used aliases – adopting a persona for each – to register for VAT and submitted four repayment claims between 2003 and 2008 During the original investigation HMRC officers found false passports and driving licences in a number of names, as well as signatures practised on tracing paper.

Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

Analysis of Reynolds’ computer found a letter on theatre company notepaper suggesting one alias went missing in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. To-do lists with reminders of VAT invoices to fake were also discovered.

Police arrested her at her Lymington shop Belle Graya in January 2008. She ran the store under the name Jane Ditchfield.

Born Virginia Ruth Povall in Buckinghamshire, Reynolds, of Seafield Road, Southampton, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to four counts of cheating the public revenue and four of forgery and fraud.

Daily Echo:

Alison Reynolds

She was handed a further year for breaching a restraining order and perverting the course of justice and was disqualified from being a company director for ten years.

Winchester Crown Court heard that Reynolds falsely claimed VAT credits in the name of bogus theatre companies Myths and Mirrors, Dreamweavers and Plan B.

She also used a variety of aliases and posed as several different people when signing the paperwork. Using wigs and make up she created numerous personas for herself working across Britain including Rebecca Perry, Alison Kennedy and Jessica Maynard.