A former Essex county bowler and a sports agent have lost their appeals against convictions for 'spot-fixing' in matches.
Agent Mazhar Majeed from Croydon and cricketer Mervyn Westfield were found guilty in separate cases of so called 'spot-fixing'.
Spot-fixing occurs when sportsmen agree to deliberately cause a particular event to happen during a match in return for money generated from betting by those who know that the event is going to take place in advance.
Mr Majeed's case is perhaps the most famous example of this type of betting scam. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison last November at Southwark Crown Court for orchestrating a spot-fixing scam involving three Pakistani cricketers.
The scam was unveiled by undercover reporters at the News of World who secretly filmed Mr Majeed being paid money for the Pakistani cricketers to arrange to bowl no-balls at specific times during a test match against England at Lord's.
Mr Westfield was convicted in a separate incident of bowling in a way which would allow his opponent to score runs during a county match against Durham in 2009. He pleaded guilty to accepting a corrupt payment and was sentenced to four months in prison this February.
Both appeals were against conviction, and concerned the interpretation of the relevant gambling and betting legislation.
Dismissing them both, Lord Judge stated that sport must remain truly competitive and that corruption must therefore be eradicated.
"Nowadays it is possible to place bets not only on the final outcome of a match, but on particular passages of play, such as how many runs will be scored or wickets taken in an over, or indeed on individual events during the course of an over or a passage of play," said Lord Judge.
"The prizes for successful gambling can be very great and the scope for corruption is therefore considerable. For the health, indeed the survival, of the game as a truly competitive sport, it must be eradicated," he added.
Source:
Mazhar Majeed and Mervyn Westfield lose spot-fixing appeals (The Telegraph)
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