Burnden Aces

Court Clears BWFC and Phil Gartside of Perjury Charges

• September 21, 2015 | By Chris Mann
• Short URL: http://b-ac.es/4bdab

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• David Sheron, Frank McParland, Gavin McCann, Jeffrey Weston, Jerome Anderson, Phil Gartside, SEM, Sammy Lee, Simon Marland, Southampton, Steve Horner, Tony McGill , Aston Villa
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• See Also

• Phil Gartside & Sammy Lee Among 11 Summonsed to Court

Bolton Wanderers and their chairman, Phil Gartside, have been cleared of perjury and fraud charges relating to the 2007 transfer of Gavin McCann.

The case, which was related to the £1million signing of McCann from Aston Villa, was heard at Newcastle Crown Court after football agent Tony McGill sought a private prosecution, claiming he was cut out of a deal which would have earned him a commission payment of up to £390,000.

A similar case was heard in September 2014, in which McGill was ordered to pay 80% of court costs and 30% of those from sports agency SEM, seemingly clearing Wanderers officials from any wrongdoing.

After being summonsed to court earlier this year, Gartside and all other parties involved have been acquitted of all charges after the prosecution failed to deliver any evidence to back up their claims.

Gartside, who has overseen day-to-day running of Wanderers since taking the chairmanship in 1999, was cleared of five counts of perjury and one of fraud by false representation.

Club secretary Simon Marland was cleared of the same charges, while Sammy Lee, Wanderers manager at the time of the transfer, along with former director of football Frank McParland, were both cleared of four counts of perjury.

McCann, the subject of the transfer investigated, was cleared of four counts of perjury and one of fraud by false representation.

Jerome Anderson, Stephen Horner, David Sheron and Jeffrey Weston, all registered football agents, were cleared of all charges, while lawyer Chris Farnell also had two counts of perjury dropped.

Finally, Bolton Wanderers and the SEM agency had the case against them dropped, with McGill, who was previously seeking a prosecution, confirmed he could not be requesting a judicial review of Judge Tim Gittins' 'not guilty' verdict.

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