The trial of a man accused of a Christmas hamper con which saw West Ham players lose thousands of pounds has been abandoned. Stephen Ackerman of Loughton, Essex, denies 19 fraud charges with the proceeds totalling more than £50,000.
Mr Ackerman is accused of selling hampers to West Ham players and staff that never arrived under the alias Mark Kingston. The jury has been discharged with a new trial set to start on 24 October at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
A group of 13 people, including the club’s former manager Sam Allardyce, James Tomkins, Joey O’Brien and Andy Carroll
The 48-year-old visited West Ham’s training ground on 12 December 2014 “with all the trappings of a successful businessman”, driving a black Range Rover and sporting a silver watch, the prosecuting lawyer said during the case.
Prosecutor Richard Milne said under the pseudonym “Mark Kingston”, Mr Ackerman allegedly set up a stall with the hampers containing Belgian chocolates, Yorkshire crisps and champagne, heavily discounted at £60. He then used the details of five people who paid for the hampers and cases of champagne by card to further defraud them, taking more than £50,000, the court heard.
Andy Carroll is alleged to have lost a further £10,500 from his account, while Sam Allardyce was defrauded £13,000, according to the charge. Defender James Tomkins lost £30,000 while sums of £750 and £480 were taken using bank card details of Joey O’Brien and head of medical and sports science Stijn Vandenbroucke, the charges allege. Former West Ham players including Kevin Nolan and Sam Allardyce gave evidence during the trial.
West Ham’s former captain Nolan acted as an inadvertent “middleman” the court heard. Kevin Nolan told the jury he had passed the details of a hamper salesman named “Mark Kingston” to club officials. Nolan told Snaresbrook Crown Court he was the given the details of “a fella called Mark” by nightclub manager Scott Cummings. The 34-year-old said he passed the details to player liaison officer Tim De’Ath telling him: “Mark sold luxury hampers and he would like to come into the training ground.”
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Agent mark Kingston wants 5% of 75.3 million euros to fund new court case defence and giving Kevin Nolan a cut of the proceeds !
Napoli still waiting on the hampers sent by second class post through a middle man on west hams trusted buisness associates list !
Contact number ( Whitehall 1212 ).
The case for the prosecution was filled with £50 pound notes and a free holiday in Brazil,
The case was open and shut ! Very quickly ?
and now we know the real reason our form took a nose dive just after xmas that year.. or maybe it is just a coincidence our team spirit was in the sh1t3r.