A bookmaker who dodged paying betting tax has been fined £1,500 by magistrates.

Raymond Challenor, who managed J and M Racing's betting shop at the Middlebeck Social Club, Middlesbrough, admitted seven offences of fraudulently evading duty for six months.

Robert Kerr, prosecuting for Customs and Excise, at Teesside Magistrates' Court, said that the firm operated two tills for wagers, but only declared the tax on one.

The company was estimated to have avoided paying £6,636 tax and declined to settle for £9,000 including a penalty figure, he told the court yesterday.

Challenor, of Durham Road, Eston, who held the licence for the betting shop, was described as a stooge for the proprietor, James McElvanney, of Honeypot Lane, Darlington.

Karen Hart, defending Challenor, 69, said: "He managed the shop for £100 a week and was instructed to set up two tills."

McElvanney failed to appear at court in Middlesbrough yesterday to answer the same charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.