Fallon in court for race fixing trial
Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon will return to the Old Bailey today for the start of a race fixing trial.
The jockey, who rode Dylan Thomas to victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France yesterday, faces a trial with five other defendants.
Jurors consisting of seven women and five men were empanelled last week and will also return to hear the case open.
The judge, Mr Justice Forbes, told them it would be a complex but interesting case, lasting around four months.
The six-time champion jockey and other defendants deny being part of a race-fixing scam in which horses were made to lose.
Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, is being tried alongside fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
Also charged are Lynch’s brother, Shaun Lynch, 37, of Derry, Northern Ireland, former racing syndicate director Miles Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire.
They deny conspiracy to defraud between December 2002 and September 2004 by interfering with the running of horses to ensure they lost races, defrauding Betfair online betting exchange punters and others putting money on the races.
Rodgers is also accused of concealing the proceeds of crime.
The accused are all on bail.
