Former football club chief exec admits tax evasion

THE former chief executive of a West Midlands football club admitted avoiding duty on 21.3m fake cigarettes.

Guy Simpson, who ran Halesowen Town in the Southern League Premier Division, pleaded guilty to tax evasion at Southampton Crown Court in avoiding the duty on £5.3m worth of cigarettes.

Customs estimated that the amount of duty he avoided paying was £4.5m.

The Regal brand cigarettes were discovered in two cargo containers on board a ship which arrived in Southampton from China in December 2008.

The court heard yesterday that the 52-year-old was in debt at the time of the offence and the cigarettes were shredded and used to help power the national grid by being burnt at a power station.

The case was adjourned by Judge Patrick Hooton who granted Simpson bail but warned him that all sentencing options were open.

Pre-sentence reports will now be compiled and Simpson, from Chorley in Lancashire, must appear again on 15 June.

A confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act is also due to take place.