FRAUDSTERS exploited the death of a charity founder by faking donations and pocketing more than £5m in Gift Aid in a "despicable" scam. 

Olsi Vullnetari, 37, of Charney Avenue in Abingdon, was jailed for seven years yesterday for after "abusing" the Gift Aid system in which charities can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated by tax payers.

The software programmer carried out the shocking crime with his sister's former partner, 58-year-old John Davies of Harvest Court in Esher, Surrey, who was jailed for 12 years. 

Vullnetari and Davies pretended to be trustees for The Sompan Foundation and The Kurbet Foundation after the death of the charities' original founder, who had legitimately set them up to help women and children in crisis and poverty around the world. 

The pair submitted tens of thousands of Gift Aid repayment claims to the Government's HM Revenue and Customs between 2007 and 2012, based on donations made in the names and addresses of real tax payers - some of them dead.

David Margree, assistant director at HMRC's fraud investigation service, said: “These fraudsters despicably extorted £5m from honest British taxpayers. Gift Aid is in place to support legitimate charities and offer extra funding, not for the financial benefit of criminals who abuse the system.

“HMRC and our partner, the Crown Prosecution Service, have brought to justice these fraudsters who, had they not been stopped, would have continued to rob public services and genuine charities of a great deal more."

The crime, which was orchestrated by Davies, saw £5,038,198.63 paid to the registered charities after the men produced false paperwork to support the Gift Aid claims.

Money was laundered through bank accounts abroad and through a separate ‘charity’ The Tosk Foundation which was set up by Davies.

The Tosk Foundation, which has headquarters near Davies' family home in Balastya, Hungary, received around £1.6 million in payments.

Davies’ 31-year-old son Ben Davies, of Melrose Avenue in Wimbledon, was also jailed for associated money laundering.

All three men were arrested between May 2013 and June 2015.

They were jointly charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue contrary to common law and an individual count each of money laundering. 

John Davies and Vullnetari were found guilty of all charges on April 8, with Benjamin Davies found guilty of one count of money laundering on the same date. A fourth man was acquitted. 

The men were sentenced yesterday at Southwark Crown Court in London following an eight-week trial which began on February 15.