Ex-footballers face prison over scam
COURT: Two ex-professional footballers are facing jail for scamming £5m from schools and colleges through a bogus sports leadership scheme. They promised to help struggling youngsters gain an NVQ in activity leadership.
I’m a director, but my main thought is I have to get done quickly. Mark Aizlewood told the court his wife’s mental health problems were preoccupying him.
TWO EX-PROFESSIONAL footballers are facing jail for scamming £5m from schools and colleges through a bogus sports leadership scheme.
Former Wales international Mark Aizlewood, 57, who played for Bradford City and Leeds United, and Paul Sugrue, 56, whose past clubs include Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Cardiff City, promised to help struggling youngsters gain an NVQ in activity leadership.
They told colleges across the country they would provide fulltime training in football coaching as well as work experience and a £95 weekly stipend to 3,800 students.
But in reality, hundreds of the students on their books did not even exist, many lived at the opposite end of the country from the training scheme, while others were doing just two to three hours of study a week.
Yesterday, Aizlewood was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in London of one count and Sugrue of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation by offering the non-existent apprenticeships through their firm Luis Michael Training Ltd.
Aizlewood was acquitted of a second count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
The pair – along with fellow directors Keith Williams, 45, and Christopher Martin, 53 – submitted false accounts to colleges to persuade them to do business with the firm.
They promised the colleges it was the perfect opportunity for “NEETs”, or youngsters not in employment, education or training, to gain a qualification.
Williams was also convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
Football coach Jack Harper, 30, was convicted of fraud and using a false instrument. He was acquitted of another count of conspiracy to commit false representation.
Martin admitted two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation ahead of trial, along with Stephen Gooding, 53, who admitted one charge.
Judge Michael Tomlinson described the case as “very serious” and adjourned the case for sentencing until February 26.
The company enrolled suitable apprentices to claim money from the colleges, which in turn received funding from the Government-run Learning and Skills Council (LSC), later renamed the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).
Some of the bogus students were sourced from a summer football camp run by Harper, who secretly enrolled students to apprenticeships without their knowledge or consent.
Aizlewood denied any wrongdoing, telling the jury he had been preoccupied by his late wife’s spiralling mental health problems before her suicide in June last year.
He told the court he had neither the “time or inclination” to carry out such a complex fraud during the period.
The former player described how his wife Penelope was suffering from alcohol and drug problems, as well as depression.
Aizlewood said: “I’m a director of a company, but, and it’s a big but, my main thought pattern was what I have to do – I have to get done quickly and get back because of the situation there.” Aizlewood, from Aberdare, Mid Glamorgan; Sugrue, from Cardiff; Williams, from Cemaes Bay, Anglesey; Harper, of Southport, Merseyside; Martin, from Catmore in West Berkshire, and Gooding, of Bridgwater, Somerset, were released on bail ahead of sentencing later this month.