Fallon walks free

[boldie]

and quite rightly so..never in doubt. But the stupidity of having an Australian Steward judge English racing is beyond belief and this has done great harm to the sport.

From the racing post

Fallon case thrown out



by Racing Post staff

 

KIEREN FALLON and five others walked free from the Old Bailey in London today as the huge race-fixing trial collapsed.

The six men were acquitted by a jury on the directions of trial judge Mr Justice Forbes, who said there was no case to answer following defence submissions at the end of two months of prosecution evidence.

Fallon said: "I am of course relieved and delighted, but also outraged. There was never any evidence against me."

There were six strands to an application from the defence teams for no case to answer of which one essential one was the nature of evidence given by expert witness Ray Murrihy, a leading steward in Australian racing.

In his summing up, Mr Justice Forbes said that the value of Murrihy's contribution when assessing a list of 27 races under suspicion was so limited that the case could not continue.

Mr Justice Forbes said Murrihy's short-comings and limitations in being able to give evidence had not surfaced until he was cross-examined by defence barristers.

He said that Mr Murrihy in his witness statement had been critical of the riding in 13 of the races and there was a prima facie case against the jockeys.

The judge added: "Remarkably, it was only in cross-examination that the very significant limitations and shortcomings in the evidence he was able to give became clear."

In court, Mr Murrihy had said "it was not incumbent that I verse myself in UK or other jurisdiction rules".

Mr Murrihy also said in evidence: "I have not said I was an expert in respect of UK races."

The judge said in his ruling today: "This is an extraordinary admission given that he was purporting to give evidence about 27 races run in the UK according to UK racing rules.

"In my opinion, that was tantamount to Mr Murrihy disqualifying himself in giving evidence in relation to the suspect races.

"In my opinion it is now clear that Mr Murrihy's evidence was subject to a number of significant limitations and shortcomings which were not evident from his witness statements and his evidence in chief."

Now Fallon is set to get back in the saddle in big races in Britain following a 17-month suspension imposed after his arrest.

Fallon always denied involvement and his barrister asked the judge: "You have to consider how much it would cost to buy Kieren Fallon."

Fallon, fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams, gambler and businessman Miles Rodgers and two other men had been accused of plotting to throw races.

But the "fatal flaw" in the £6million case was that no one was able to prove the jockeys had interfered with horses.

The only expert witness called was Australian racing steward Murrihy, who admitted he was not an expert on British horseracing. 

The case against the men was that they were trying to break Jockey Club rule 157 by stopping horses racing on their merits.

But Mr Murrihy said he was not familiar with the rules in the UK, was only giving his opinion on the riding and could not say what the outcome of a stewards' inquiry would have been.

The jury also heard that Fallon had a higher win-rate in the races he was allegedly meant to throw than his average.

City of London police, who had been asked to investigate by the Jockey Club, came under constant criticism throughout the case.

It emerged that the then Commissioner of the force had approached a director of the Jockey Club - now the British Horseracing Authority - about more funding for the inquiry, which is thought to have cost around £3million.

And it also emerged that the main detective in the case had been offered a job with the BHA's investigation unit.

The prosecution said there was no evidence that Fallon profited from the alleged scam.

He was said to have ended up owing a betting syndicate money.

The accused were said to have plotted to stop 27 horses winning between December 2002 and August 2004, thereby defrauding Betfair internet customers and other punters.

The prosecution said large amounts of money had been bet on the horses losing after a series of phone calls and text messages involving the jockeys.

Fallon was said to have ridden in 17 of the allegedly fixed races and won five of them - a higher win rate than his normal average.

The betting syndicate run by Rodgers was said to have wagered £2.1million on horses to lose, making between £60,000 and £143,000.

But Fallon was alleged to have owed the syndicate's backers £338,000 by winning the five races.

Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, Lynch's driver brother Shaun Lynch, 38, of Belfast, gambler and businessman Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and barman Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, were all cleared on the directions of the judge.

Rodgers was also found not guilty of concealing the proceeds of crime.

All the defendants were on bail.

Fallon's QC, John Kelsey-Fry, had asked the judge to throw out the case against him because the prosecution had failed to "come close" to making a case against the jockey.

He said the races which Fallon lost yielded only small returns for alleged plotters - in one case just £3,000.

He said: "There is simply no case to answer. None of the strands of evidence individually or collectively amount to a case to answer.

"The evidence presented by the prosecution when properly analysed has demonstrated that Kieren Fallon was not a party to a conspiracy to defraud."
 

[ACE2M]

quite rightly aquitted but still guilty as sin

Fallon was then asked about text messagesfeaturing the letter 'n.'
On August 23, 2004, he sent a text reading: “6.55 Number 2 n.”

To the question, “Can you tell me what the 'n' means?", Fallon replied: “I can't remember what the 'n' would be.”

Later, Detective Sergeant Mark Manning asked: “Does 'n' mean non-trier?"

Fallon replied: “I wouldn't say so, no.”

Detective Constable Kerrie Gower asked: “Could it be simply 'no'?"

Fallon replied: “No, yeah, no I don't think they'll win, possibly, yeah. If he'd text me, 'Is it gonna win?'"

The message related to Barking Mad, on whom Fallon won at Windsor on August 23, who was said to have cost Betfair accounts operated by Miles Rodgers, who laid the horse, £180,000.

Fallon was asked to explain the meaning of a text sent by him to Sherkle on July 24, 2004, the day after he had won on Daring Aim at Newmarket. The text read: “They will take my licences off me if they drift like that last night they are watching me.”

Fallon said: “The only thing is, none of us ever like to see our horses being, er, drifting, you know? If a horse drifts in the betting, it doesn't look good for a jockey.”

[steeveg]

biggest culprits are the trainers, dont think there all laying bets or anything, they just dont want there horses to win that day so they give the jockeys the wrong riding instructions, i did an ew treble years ago, first 2 won 16/1 12/1 all going on to a horse which was 5/1 in morning betting, i read in the paper after i placed the bet that this top trainer had the worst record for horses winning 2 races on the run, the horse i backed had won last time out so i was a bit worried, betting came for the race he opened round 6/1 and drifted to 12/1, he came out the stalls at the back and obviously i was watching every move he made, he just sat there letting the horses getting further away from him, making no effort at all to push the horse, he never had a chance. i was sickened, not because he lost, but the way he lost, i have never backed a horse again of this top trainer since when the horse won last time out

[TightEnd]

Fallon definitely a "no gooder" but agreed the case was not made to any standard of legal requirement

Anyone saying its a "fantastic" day for racing etc etc is in cloud cuckoo land

[bolt pp]

quite rightly aquitted but still guilty as sin
 

LOL, funneist thing ive read in ages.

Murrihys such a doughnut

[The_nun]

Now he is on drugs charges of some sorts.

[Karabiner]

Some of the tabloids have been witch-hunting Fallon for years now and I'm in no doubt that was a contributing factor into why he was roped in with the others in this trial. The sick thing is that the others were 100% guilty imo. My friend used to work for an on course bookie who was "in the know" for most of these non-triers, none of which were ridden by Fallon incidentally, although a couple were ridden by a certain Mr Winston allegedly, all of which duly lost.

So the (imo) vindictive hounding of Fallon has caused the (imo) crooks to go free.

[boldie]

Some of the tabloids have been witch-hunting Fallon for years now and I'm in no doubt that was a contributing factor into why he was roped in with the others in this trial. The sick thing is that the others were 100% guilty imo. My friend used to work for an on course bookie who was "in the know" for most of these non-triers, none of which were ridden by Fallon incidentally, although a couple were ridden by a certain Mr Winston allegedly, all of which duly lost.

So the (imo) vindictive hounding of Fallon has caused the (imo) crooks to go free.

I agree. Fallon shouldn't have been put on trial where as some of the others actually have a case to answer.

[Slick Kid]

God Bless the British Justice system. How much did it cost the taxpayers this time?

[boldie]

God Bless the British Justice system. How much did it cost the taxpayers this time?

13...and not £