former Premier League footballer has been
jailed for two-and-a-half years after being
convicted of match fixing allegations.
Delroy Facey, of Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield,
was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of
conspiring to bribe non-league players.
Judge Mary Stacey said Facey's offences struck
"at the very heart of football".
Facey, who played for Bolton Wanderers, West
Bromwich Albion and Hull City, had denied any
wrongdoing.
Former non-league player Moses Swaibu, 25, of
Tooley Street, London, was also found guilty of
conspiracy to commit bribery. He was jailed for
16 months for his part in the conspiracy.
The two were arrested as part of a National
Crime Agency investigation into match fixing.
The trial heard Facey urged a footballer at a
struggling non-league club to make some "easy
money" by fixing the result of a match.
He also told a contact some Football Conference
teams would "do" a game in return for payment,
the jury heard.
'Big business' In one text conversation in late 2013, Facey tried to corrupt a Hyde FC player by offering him £2,000. During the messages, Facey told the player a friend who was betting would provide the cash.
Transcripts of messages that passed between
Facey and 43-year-old Krishna Ganeshan were
shown to the jury.
In one exchange, in October 2013, Ganeshan told
Facey to "keep your boys on stand-by", the court
heard.
"If they deliver first time, me and only you are in
big business for the future," Ganeshan
messaged.
Ganeshan was found guilty in June, alongside
Singaporean national Chann Sankaran, with both
being jailed for five years.
'Personal tragedy'
Former non-league player Michael Boateng was
also jailed for 16 months in June for his part in
the conspiracy.
The judge told Facey: "It's about the fans of the
teams involved, the families who follow the
fortunes of their teams with passion, loyalty and
devotion.
"You have betrayed all that trust, all that
confidence and it's like a cancer at the heart of
football."
Ecky Tiwana, in mitigation for Facey, said: "It
has not only been a professional tragedy but a
personal one.
"The stigma of being the most high-profile
footballer being convicted of this type of offence
- that will have a lasting effect on him, for the
rest of his life."
Speaking after the sentencing, Andy Young, from
the CPS, said Facey had acted as the
"middleman", sourcing players who would be
willing to fix matches.
"When he played professional football, he earned
good money, being paid over £65,000 in 2010/11.
"But by the time of his arrest, he was no longed
playing professionally and was earning
considerably less," Mr Young said.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-32512704