RACING: The six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon was charged yesterday with race-fixing offences after a two-year investigation that is likely to have major implications for horseracing and online betting.
Fallon, who won the Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday, was one of 11 people charged in the wake of the biggest inquiry of its kind undertaken by the City of London police.
Clare native Fallon (41) and two other jockeys, Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams, were charged with conspiracy to defraud customers of Betfair, the world's biggest online gambling service, as was Alan Berry, a licensed trainer.
The former owner and racing-syndicate director Miles Rodgers was also charged with conspiracy to defraud and with an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Seventeen of the 28 arrested in connection with the long-running police inquiry were released without charge, included Karl Burke, a trainer, and the leading jockey Robert Winston.
Two more jockeys, Dale Jewett and Paul Bradley - whose licence has lapsed since his arrest - were also released without charge yesterday.
Last night, Fallon, Lynch and Williams were suspended from racing in Britain after their licences were revoked by the Horseracing Regulatory Authority (HRA).
They will be unable to race until their cases have been heard by an HRA panel, which will sit this week under the chairmanship of the former English High Court judge Michael Connell.
The criminal charges are the culmination of an investigation, Operation Krypton, started in 2004, that has sent shock-waves through the racing fraternity. It is the first big case involving the growing phenomenon of online betting.
City of London detectives examined the betting patterns on Betfair after they had been passed by the exchange to the Jockey Club in 2004. Fallon has brought libel actions against two newspapers that made allegations concerning corruption.
All deny the charges and are due to appear at City of London magistrates court on July 17th.
"The amount of work undertaken by the investigation team has been immense," said Det Chief Supt Steve Wilmott, head of the City economic crime division last night.
"During the course of the investigation we have arrested 34 people, conducted over 500 interviews, taken more than 1,300 statements and provided over 5,000 exhibits and nearly 40,000 pages of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service and counsel."
Betfair, founded in 1999 and based in west London, allows punters to bet on odds set online by other users rather than by bookmakers. The investigation centred on allegations relating to the outcome of races on which punters bet online.
The results and details of about 80 races were examined. The inquiry differs from previous investigations into allegations of race-fixing in that online betting provides computerised traces of betting patterns in a way not afforded by bets placed through bookmakers or at racecourses.
While racing has faced many investigations into corruption, none has had such widespread ramifications or has involved such a high-ranking jockey.
In a highly successful career, Fallon, who made no comment yesterday, has been champion jockey three times in a row between 1997 and 1999 and a further three times between 2001 and 2003.
He remains Ireland's number one jockey and will continue to ride for trainer Aidan O'Brien.
Yesterday Denis Egan, chief executive of the Irish Turf Club, said: "The licensing committee will note what has happened but, as far as we are concerned, Kieren Fallon is innocent until proven guilty."
Guardian Service
