Fallon cleared of race-fixing
Kieren Fallon is a six-time champion jockey
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Friday, 07, Dec 2007 07:51
Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon has been cleared of race-fixing after an Old Bailey judge threw out the case for lack of evidence.
Fallon was acquitted along with his fellow defendants and the suspension imposed by the British horseracing authority has been lifted with immediate effect.
The jockey, along with fellow riders Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams and three other men, was accused of plotting to throw races between December 2002 and August 2004.
A total of 27 races were investigated but the jury was instructed by Mr Justice Forbes to return a verdict of not guilty of conspiracy to defraud customers of betting exchange Betfair.
Fallon said in a statement that he was "relieved" at the decision but also "outraged" by the investigation, which he says was built around evidence that did not exist.
His defence team described the investigation, believed to have cost the taxpayer in the region of £10 million, as "a huge waste of money" as there was "never a case to answer".
"We will be asking why the crown prosecution service (CPS) launched the prosecution in the first place," Fallon's solicitor added.
The City of London police, who took on the case before handing it to the CPS, said they believed there was "significant evidence of criminal activity" when they conducted the probe.
"This activity could have had the result of seriously defrauding the betting community and undermining confidence in British horseracing," said City of London police Commander Patrick Rice.
"We made the decision, therefore, to take on the case in the public interest."
Cmdr Rice said the investigation was the largest of its type ever, including more than 500 interviews and 1,300 statements, and that the force had "no regrets" about taking it on.
He continued: "I am confident that the officers involved conducted a thorough investigation of what was, as I have already said, a long and complex inquiry. As the first of its kind, there was also no precedent.
"We are disappointed by the judge's decision but we appreciate the reasons for it.
"We believe we presented some compelling evidence and it is a pity that the jury did not have the opportunity to consider all the evidence we had gathered.
"We will now reflect on the judge's comments and conduct a review of the investigation. If there are lessons to be learned we will learn them."