Former Premier League striker jailed for match fixing....SEE PHOTO

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It has been confirmed that a former Premier League striker has been
jailed for two-and-a-half years after becoming the highest-profile
player to be convicted of match-fixing allegations.
Delroy Facey, 35, who played for Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich
Albion and Hull City, was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court
earlier of conspiracy to bribe non-league players.
He had denied any wrong-doing during a three-week trial, claiming he
thought two corrupt businessmen offering him up to £15,000 for his
part in the plot were "class clowns" whom he decided to "humour".
Judge Mary Stacey said Facey's offences struck "at the very heart of football".
"You have been a role model, but you have abused that position," she added.
The trial heard that 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 that some Football Conference teams
would "do" a game in return for payment.
Facey's co-accused, former non-league player Moses Swaibu, of Tooley
Street, Bermondsey, south London, was convicted of the same charge.
Judge Stacey, sentencing both men, said: "It's about the fans of the
teams involved, the families who follow the fortunes of their teams
with passion, loyalty and devotion.
"They assume that all the players in those teams will be sharing in
that and playing their hardest and best.
"It's also about the employees and staff, groundsmen, coaches, the
cleaners, even the owners and share-holders, the match stewards - many
of whom will have been volunteers.
"You have betrayed all that trust, all that confidence, and it's like
a cancer at the heart of football."
She added: "Your behaviour strikes at the very heart of football and
the concept of gamesmanship.
"It crossed my mind that so many of the different pieces of
terminology in everyday speech we use, in fairness and justice, are
used in football - things like 'it's a fair game', or 'a level playing
field'.
"Fairness is at the heart of football, and the opportunity of everyone
to do their best, and your behaviour has struck right at the heart of
that."
She said the pair were "both willing participants" but that Facey had
been "far more the initiator and prime-mover, expending far more of
your time on this enterprise - even when you were at work".
Judge Stacey added: "Both of you, to slightly different extents, have
lived the dream of professional football, as is every small boy's
dreams.
"You, Delroy Facey, played not only in the Premiership but also
internationally for Grenada and had the opportunity to work with
managers such as Sam Allardyce and Sven Goran-Eriksson, and so many
people would have given their eye teeth to play football at that
professional standard that you had."
Turning to the reasons why both men had committed their crimes, she
concluded: "In both cases, your motivation was financial greed."
Ecky Tiwana, in mitigation for Facey, said: "It has not only been a
professional tragedy, but a personal one.
"This was a man who went to the heights of Premier League football."
He added: "This serious conviction is going to stay with him for the
rest of his life.
"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.
"This man has fallen from great heights and it's very sad indeed we
sit here - that having had great success in football, he is having to
go to prison today."
Swaibu, 25, was jailed for 16 months for his part in the conspiracy.
Both men will serve half their sentences in jail and the remainder out
on licence, said Judge Stacey.
Swaibu's barrister, Richard Keogh, said in mitigation that any hope of
playing professional football again had now been ended by his
conviction.
"His career, his dreams have been ruined," he added.
As Facey prepared to leave with the dock officers, he made a chin-up
gesture to his family including his weeping mother, who sat in the
public gallery.
Afterwards, there were emotional scenes, with Facey's mother sobbed
loudly in the court as her son was led down from the dock to begin his
sentence behind bars.
Earlier, Facey, while outside court on temporary bail and immediately
before his sentencing hearing, had declined to make any comment to
waiting reporters.
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