Linekar jailed for 2 1/2 years

[Gilps]

Well, his brother anyway

 

The brother of former England football captain Gary Lineker has been jailed for a £220,000 tax fraud.

Wayne Lineker, 43, was sentenced to two and a half years by a judge at Southwark Crown Court in London.

 

The millionaire bar owner, of Fyfield, Essex, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Inland Revenue at a hearing last week.

 

He admitted used unsuspecting relatives and friends to ferry foreign currency to Britain from sports bars in Spain.

 

He was also ordered to pay a £90,000 confiscation order or else face a further 24 months in jail.

 

Smuggled money

 

His manager David Hodges, 43, of Rosebank, Waltham Abbey, Essex, who also pleaded guilty to taking part in the conspiracy between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2001, was jailed for 20 months.

 

John Stacey, 56, a former administrative manager at NatWest stockbrokers, since turned taxi-driver, was jailed for 18 months.

 

Stacey, of Liffstan Way, Southend, Essex, had been convicted of the conspiracy charge after a two-week trial earlier this year heard he had received a series of four-figure sweeteners and a holiday in Portugal in return for helping the pair.

 

The scam worked by sending bundles of pesetas and escudos from bars in Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands into Britain using the unsuspecting "mules".

 

Once in Britain, the money was laundered into sterling, first through a bureau de change and later using a series of money exchange deals arranged by Stacey.

 

The court heard that once it had been "cleaned up", the cash would be handed back to Lineker, whose older brother captained England during a high-profile international career before becoming Match of the Day presenter.

 

'Burglars and thieves'

 

The foreign equivalent of £220,000 is thought to have been smuggled into Britain over three years, with the actual cost to the taxman estimated at £90,000, including interest.

 

Lineker, who lives in a £2m mansion in Fyfield, owns eight pubs and has franchises on three others.

 

Sentencing him, Judge Stephen Robbins said Lineker had drawn his "right-hand man" Hodges into the conspiracy but that he himself took prime responsibility for the fraud.

 

He added that defrauding the Inland Revenue was a "serious offence because it means defrauding the vast majority of honest taxpayers", and compared Lineker and Hodges to "burglars and thieves".

[matty]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[John am Rhein]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

[Snookie]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here

Edited April 24, 2006 by snookiejane

[Stevie H]

This post is not viewable to guests.

You can sign in to your account at the login page here

If you do not have an account then you can register here