Ex-footballers are jailed over apprenticeship scam

Two ex-professional footballers have been jailed for scamming £5million from schools and colleges through a bogus sports leadership scheme.

Mark Aizlewood, 58, a former Wales international and Paul Sugrue, 56, who played for Manchester City, promised to help students with an apprenticeship, providing coaching training and work experience. In reality, the hundreds of students on their books did not exist.

Aizlewood, of Aberdare, Mid Glamorgan, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and sentenced to six years and Sugrue, of Cardiff, of two counts and was sentenced to seven years in jail at Southwark Crown Court.