BBC's Chris Moyles loses battle to keep tax affairs from public glare

BBC presenter Chris Moyles asked the courts to conceal his membership of an aggressive tax avoidance scheme because any revelations would infringe his human rights, The Times has reported.

Reports of Moyles’ membership of the scheme appeared earlier this month, but it has emerged that Moyles had earlier had his request for anonymity refused by a tax tribunal.

Judge Colin Bishopp said that there was an ‘obvious public interest’ in keeping tax cases public.

‘The fact that a taxpayer is rich, or that he is in the public eye, does not seem to me to dictate a different approach,’ he said. ‘On the contrary, it may be that hearing the appeal of such a person in private would give rise to the suspicion… that riches or fame can buy anonymity, and protection from the scrutiny which others cannot avoid.’

The Times said that Bishopp had kept Moyles’ identity secret to give him time to appeal, referring to him as ‘Mr A’ in his subject, but that it had established separately that the case related to Moyles.