By Andrew Warshaw
February 8 – Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp (pictured), who has spent the last two weeks in the glare of publicity for alleged tax evasion, was today cleared of all charges.
Redknapp had strenuously denied accepting untaxed bonus payments from former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić while the pair were at the south-coast club before Redknapp moved to Tottenham in 2008.
Mandarić, now boss of Sheffield Wednesday, also walked free, cleared of two charges of cheating the public revenue.
Redknapp had been accused of evading £30,000 ($47,730/€36,000) tax on payments made to a Monaco bank account.
However, he was acquitted unanimously by a jury of four women and eight men who had spent five and a half hours deliberating before issuing their verdict.
The case provided a compelling courtroom spectacle as one of the biggest names in English football gave an impassioned defence of his behaviour in the witness box.
Redknapp’s hopes of managing the England team as a result of the verdict received a major boost as he walked free from court after jurors accepted that he had not been guilty of a deliberate offshore tax dodge.
“This case should never have come to court,” said a highly emotional Redknapp as he emerged.
“My family have had this hanging over us for five years.
“I’ve got to be honest, it’s been a nightmare.
“It was horrendous.”
The two-week trial followed an £8 million ($13 million/€10 million) investigation and threatened to derail Redknapp’s progress at the pinnacle of his 30-year managerial career, with his Tottenham side currently in third place in the Premier League.
At times he was moved to the verge of tears as the prosecution alleged he told a pack of lies in an attempt to get off the hook.
But the jury accepted that the Monaco account in the name of Redknapp’s dog had nothing to do with tax evasion.
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January 2012: Harry Redknapp in the dock over tax evasion allegations