A Perthshire businessman who claimed to have created the Queen’s favourite brew at “Scotland’s first tea plantation” has been convicted of an elaborate £550k fraud.
Thomas Robinson – better known as Tam O’Braan – made up awards and qualifications to blag sales from some of the country’s top hotels and stores including the Dorchester, the Balmoral and Fortnum and Mason.
The father-of-four also duped growers from around Scotland into buying Camellia Sinesis tea plants from his remote facility in the hills of Amulree, south of Aberfeldy.
In reality, the crops were purchased wholesale from a plantation in northern Italy.
Other plants were used to decorate a 0.3 acre “kitchen garden” at this farm ahead of visits from potential buyers.
Robinson bought these “show plants” from esteemed tea vendors in the UK, and even demanded one sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep his sales a secret.
The 55-year-old’s too-good-to-be-brew story sensationally unspooled following a three-year investigation by Food Standards Scotland and a four-week jury trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court.
Robinson – who once told the press “call me Mr Tea” – was remanded in custody and told jail will be “inevitable.”
‘Tam the man’
The jury deliberated overnight for six-and-a-half hours before returning unanimous guilty verdicts to two charges of forming a fraudulent scheme over a period of more than four years.
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony told Robinson: “The jury have convicted you of two very serious charges, with a total combined value of between half-a-million-pounds and £600,000.
“There will be significant sentencing consequences for you.”
Robinson will also face proceeds of crime action to claw back his ill-gotten funds.
He showed little emotion as he was led out of the dock in handcuffs but could be seen shaking his head as the jury delivered its verdict.
Claims Robinson’s tea was grown in Scotland using some kind of miracle plastic sheeting sparked a media buzz, helping to secure sales with high end customers.
Michelin star chef Jeff Bland of Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel was among those who were tricked into buying it.
Between November 2014 and February 2019, Robinson’s Wee Tea Plantation made £84,124 selling nearly 460kg of loose leaf tea to the Balmoral for its Palm Court menu.
Mr Bland, known as Jeff the Chef who referred to Robinson as Tam the Man, told the trial he would not have bought the tea if he knew it was not Scottish.
Similarly Robinson sold £54,648 of tea to the Dorchester, £39,875 to Fortnum and Mason and £32,878 to gourmet tea company Mariage Freres.
Robinson also duped Jamie Russell and Derek Walker of Fife’s Wee Tea Company, who agreed to package and sell his teas, again believing they had been grown at Dalreoch.
Between 2014 and 2018, he sold £67,109 to the Wee Tea Company.
Robinson was further convicted of defrauding 12 individual buyers – 11 in Scotland and one from Jersey – out of £274,354.
Fake award ceremony
Suspicions started to grow around 2016 when, on the back of press reports, Perth and Kinross Council investigated Dalreoch to see the scale of the operation for itself, only to be told production was carried out in Fife.
A subsequent probe by Fife Council found this was not true.
At the same time, people who had bought plants from Robinson were surprised to find their own teas listed on The Balmoral menu.
Food Standards Scotland, set up in the wake of the horse meat scandal, was tasked to investigate.
As the probe progressed, the teas were yanked from hotel menus and Robinson’s contract with the Wee Tea Company was terminated.
During the trial, it emerged Robinson made up outrageous claims about his product, telling one customer it was the Queen’s favourite tea.
His tall tales including signing a contract with President Barrack Obama’s US administration for crop trials, deals with Kensington Palace and playing and coaching rugby for several well-known clubs.
Robinson, most recently working as a chef at Taymouth Castle, claimed to have invented a “unique” plastic sheeting that allowed his tea plants to grow at record-breaking speeds.
He fabricated awards, including the prestigious-sounding Salon de Thé prize, to boost his company’s profile.
He pretended to be former employee Lindsay Deuchars, using her old email address without permission to communicate with customers and media – usually when trying to avoid troublesome questions – signing off messages with “Lins x”.
Robinson tried to explain he had a four-and-a-half acre plot near his land which was used to grow thousands of tea plants.
The land, he said, had been leased from a shepherd but he could not remember his name.
No one who visited Dalreoch – such as potential buyers and investors – was shown this land.
Robinson struggled to explain how he claimed 70,000 plants had been removed from the four-and-a-half acre plot, when he had earlier said he grew plants at a rate of about 1,000 per acre.
He said the plants and all the equipment at Dalreoch had been moved to Ireland, because he was quitting Scotland after Perth and Kinross Council gave funding to a competitor.
But he said he could not produce photos of the plants and equipment sitting in Ireland because he had been let down by an IT guy called Mike, whose surname he could not remember.
‘This will stand in the history of tea’
Prosecutor Joanne Ritchie told jurors: “This was a scheme to deceive, a scheme to make money on the basis of lies.
“This man has lied to every single witness who encountered him.
“But more than that, he lied to the public at large.”
She said Robinson made himself out to be a “knowledgeable and credible person,” while exploiting a gap in the market but urged jurors to reject his testimony entirely, branding it “absurd.”
Defence advocate Colin Neilson KC urged jurors to acquit his client, even if they had suspicious about his business practices and his tendency to “big himself up” to others.
Giving evidence at his trial, Robinson said he was “proud” of his achievements.
“This is what I consider to be my life’s work,” he said.
“This will stand in the history of tea.”
Robinson said he felt “injured and hurt,” but also “annoyed and angry” by the allegations.
“The first time I’ve heard the evidence is here, at the same time as the jury,” he said.
‘Not a victimless crime’
The case represent a significant win for the Food Standards Scotland’s crime and incident unit.
Ron McNaughton, who heads up the department, said: “This was a highly complex and protracted investigation which required a significant amount of time, expertise and coordination across our team with partner agencies.”
He added: “This is not a victimless crime – individuals, businesses and an emerging sector of genuine Scottish tea growers suffered real financial and reputational harm as a result of deliberate deception.”
Read about more of tea blagger Robinson’s tall tales here.
And look out for more coverage on Sunday, at The Courier, when we hear from those conned by Perthshire tea blagger Thomas Robinson.
