Getting his teeth done in Turkey was 'the worst mistake' of his life, now it turns out he owes £100,000 in tax

A man who recently spoke out about his Turkey teeth regrets has been named and shamed as a tax cheat. Matthew Bowen, from Rhondda Cynon Taf, evaded £103,408 in tax according to HMRC’s latest list of deliberate defaulters.

The 36-year-old self-employed scaffolder has been handed a penalty of £66,956 by the taxman for dodging payments between April 2018 and April 2024. Last year we reported on his experience of a dental operation in Turkey, which he described as “the worst mistake” of his life having spent £14,000 on the surgery, travel and accommodation — only for his new gnashers to allegedly start “falling apart” within weeks.

Mr Bowen, of Bryntirion in Ynysboeth, Abercynon, told us our phone call was the first he had heard about his tax evasion. But this does not tally with the procedures of HMRC, which says it gives each defaulter a chance to argue why their details should not be published before they appear on the list.

He said he would call us back in half an hour but did not do so. The next day we rang him again and he said: “I dunno what to say to be honest. I’ve been trying to contact HMRC but I’m on hold. If I thought I done wrong I wouldn’t be trying to ring them.”

When we spoke to Mr Bowen for last year’s piece on his dental woes, he told us he worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for two years leading up to his January 2023 operation because he craved a “perfect smile”.

Did that dream push him to twist the truth with his tax returns? “No,” he replied, denying he ever dodged tax or knew about HMRC’s concerns over his filings.

Speaking last year, Mr Bowen said his dental issues began aged 19 when he sustained a broken jaw from an assault in Aberdare’s Tesco supermarket. “All my teeth started crumbling after that,” he said.

The crowns he wanted were not available on the NHS and getting them fitted privately in the UK would have cost him £27,000, he said, but after a recommendation from a Turkish friend he opted to go to a clinic in Marmaris for a £7,800 operation.

Mr Bowen had 18 teeth removed and 12 metal implants inserted to his jawbone, before having porcelain crowns fitted. But he claimed they were “falling apart” within weeks of being put in, so he returned to the clinic in August 2023 for another operation, which again left him dissatisfied.

“I’ve got a big gap from my gums to my teeth,” he said last year. “You can see all my saliva coming through the tops of my teeth.”

The dentist, Dr Aras Selcuk, stood by his work, telling us: “This is the only patient with problems so far. Everyone is happy, only this guy is not… I told him the saliva between the gum and the teeth is normal.”

In our original interview Mr Bowen said he had been “working so many hours” to save for a new operation to finally get the smile he wanted. This week, when we asked if there was an update on his teeth, he replied: “They’re the same.”

A person or business appears on HMRC’s list if they have intentionally defaulted on more than £25,000 in tax. The authority says the list is intended to “influence behaviour by encouraging defaulters to engage with HMRC”.

Defaulters’ details are removed from the list after 12 months. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.