Racing: The head of security for British horseracing today denied making a drunken claim that he was out to get six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon if it was the "last thing" he did.
Paul Scotney was giving evidence at the race-fixing trial of Fallon and five other men accused of conspiring to throw 27 races as part of a £2.12 million betting scam.
Scotney, head of security for the British Horseracing Authority, told the Old Bailey that information passed on from online betting exchange Betfair sparked the investigation.
He said that Miles Rodgers, the businessman accused of being at the centre of the conspiracy, had been brought to the attention of racing authorities in early 2003.
The authority, then known as the Jockey Club, had been alerted to unusual betting patterns following a race involving Legal Set the previous December.
Ridden by Darren Williams, one of three jockeys on trial, it lost the race. Rodgers had allegedly won money by betting on the horse to lose.
Scotney described how Rodgers was "warned off" racing in March 2004 after a disciplinary panel ruled that he had laid two of his own horses - not alleged to be among the horses in the current case - to lose.
This was in breach of a ruling in September 2003 forbidding owners to "lay" their own horse to lose.
Scotney was cross-examined over his claims by Christopher Sallon QC, defending Shaun Lynch, who is in the dock alongside his brother, Fergal Lynch.
Sallon asked Scotney about a complaint made about him by trainer Alan Jarvis over an incident at a social function in November 2006.
Scotney, a former Metropolitan Police superintendent who took up his post at the Jockey Club in October 2003, said that he did not recall the meeting.
Sallon put it to him: "At that meeting in 2006, which Mr Jarvis attended, you said quite audibly that you will get Kieren Fallon if this is the last thing you do?"
"I would not have said that," Mr Scotney replied.
"You possibly said it while you were drunk?" Mr Sallon asked.
"No, I would not have been drunk," replied Mr Scotney.
It is alleged that the six defendants were involved in a conspiracy with others between December 2002 and September 2004 to defraud Betfair customers and other punters.
Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny the charges.
Shaun Lynch, 37, of Belfast, Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, also plead not guilty.
Rodgers also denies concealing the proceeds of crime. All the defendants are on bail.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow. PA