A greyhound racing trainer who said he was known as "the biggest crook in Wimbledon" on national television is behind bars in a landmark case.
Chris Mosdall, 55, admitted drugging greyhounds to fix the outcome of races at Wimbledon Stadium – which could be given the axe if AFC Wimbledon gets planning permission on Thursday night to build its new football stadium there.
Nov 2014: Biggest crook in Wimbledon to face greyhound disciplinary
panel after Panorama revelations.
Mosdall was filmed by an undercover reporter on BBC’s Panorama programme in November last year boasting about drugging greyhounds so they run more slowly than their competitors so he can fix the results.
Race fixing is illegal.
In a programme aired on TV screens across the country in November last year, he said to an undercover reporter he has been able to get away with cheating and it has been 10 years since he was caught.
He later admitted administering the "stopper" drug Cyclizine to two dogs - Pennys Swan and Ticco Foods - between April 1 and August 16 last year so he could manipulate the outcome of races and ensure the dogs did not run as fast as they could have.
His aim was to make the dogs lose so he could secure better odds on them in future races.
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Mosdall has raced at a number of tracks, but most recently at the world-famous Plough Lane venue in Wimbledon, which is under the spotlight because of AFC Wimbledon’s plans to re-generate the site with a 20,000 seater football stadium, starting at 11,000 seats.
Merton Council will decide whether to grant planning permission for the controversial multi-million pound development on Thursday night.
Mosdall, 55, of Essex Way, Brentwood, admitted one count of cheating at gambling and was sentenced to four months and two weeks in prison on Thursday, December 3 at Kingston Crown Court.
He had to pay a victim surcharge of £80 in a case hailed by the UK Gambling Commission as widening the scope of successful cheating convictions beyond conspiracy to defraud, used in the conviction of Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
They were jailed for conspiring to cheat by bowling deliberate no-balls in a 2010 Test match against England.
Judge Peter Lodder QC, sitting at Kingston Crown Court, said: "Most of the evidence comes from covert recordings from the BBC Panorama programme.
"You knew all too well that it strikes at the very heart of gambling. Ordinary gamblers are entitled to assume they have a fair chance and to assume that betting markets are open and above board.
"Your behaviour corrupts the process and significantly damages that trust."
A Greyhound Board of Great Britain spokesman said: "This case shows that under the 2005 Gambling Act, cheating is treated as a serious criminal offence which can attract a custodial sentence and punishment beyond any sanction applied by the Independent Disciplinary Committee of the GBGB.
"We acknowledge the work of the Gambling Commission in securing the conviction and will continue to work with the commission to uphold high standards of integrity in our sport."
The GBGB warned off Mosdall indefinitely from greyhound tracks in June.
The GBGB has already said it would not launch an investigation into the trainer’s claims that he worked with others after finding no evidence to substantiate the allegations.
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