Wife's fears for jailed tax cheat Reynolds

The former Darlington Football Club chairman was jailed for three years yesterday. Last night, Susan Reynolds told The Northern Echo: "I only hope the battering he has taken recently hasn't taken too much of a toll on him."

In an exclusive interview, Mrs Reynolds said: "He is a 69-year-old man, not a healthy man, and his memory was starting to go years ago. I hope he can pull through it.

"I'm not saying it isn't justified, anyone guilty must be charged, but I feel dreadfully sorry for him."

The 45-year-old, who lives in Byers Green, near Spennymoor, County Durham, was devastated when she learned of her husband's fate

"I hope that he uses it (custody) as a total rest. It could even be the best thing to happen to him - he'll have a captive audience and hopefully he can come out and learn to appreciate simple things and family life.

"I hope he finds comfort with his three daughters - Alexandra, Victoria and Katherine - who all live in the North-East," she said.

Only hours earlier, the 69-year-old self-made millionaire - who claimed the police investigation had been a witchhunt - looked shocked as he was jailed by Judge Guy Whitburn at Newcastle Crown Court.

He was told his offending was so serious that only a custodial sentence would suffice.

His cousin, Richard Tennick, 59, who also pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue, was jailed for two years. Last night, it seemed likely that both men would appeal against their sentences.

They admitted depriving the tax man of £650,000 by claiming they did not earn an income over a six-year period.

Reynolds earned more than £2m, as well as benefits, and Tennick earned £1.5m, between April 1998 and June last year, which they failed to declare to HM Revenue and Customs.

They also failed to pay the full amount of tax due on £1.6m dividends they paid themselves following the sale of George Reynolds UK Limited in 1998.

Reynolds' barrister, David Robson QC, who also represented the former chairman in court 30 years ago, said his client planned to appeal.

He said: "We will appeal on the grounds that the sentence was wrong in principle and manifestly excessive."

Reynolds used company accounts as his own and led a lavish lifestyle, splashing out on a luxury yacht in Spain, two Rolls-Royces, three Mercedes, a mansion in Witton-le-Wear, County Durham, and a house next door to the Spice Girls, in Hampstead, London.

Reynolds also spent £10,000 on windows for his mansion, £2,000 on wine glasses and £4,000 for table place settings.

The pensioner also used his director's loan account to fly by easyJet to his Spanish villa and bought 500 leylandii.

Investigations into his finances were initiated after Reynolds, his personal assistant, Ian Robinson, and Tennick, were stopped by police in June last year, with £500,000 in the boot of a car.

They were originally charged with money laundering, but the charges were ordered to lie on file. No evidence was offered against Mr Robinson, who denied the offences.

Reynolds and Tennick claimed they had no income when they returned their tax forms.

In 2002, the former safecracker declared the only money he received was his old age pension - a sum of £4,697.

Judge Whitburn said: ''Your investment in the stadium project cost you your fortune, but it was not quite as altruistic as you make out.

''This was a very serious cheat of the Revenue in a sum in excess of £400,000."

''You launched into creating that egocentric folly, namely the George Reynolds Arena, superbly equipped and appointed stadium of the historic Darlington Football Club.

''Before your involvement with your football club, you had all the trappings of a multi-millionaire.

''Your involvement in that stadium cost you your fortune.''

Mr Robson QC, mitigating, said Reynolds was: ''A man who built up a reputation and an empire and then enjoyed wealth. He has suffered greatly.''

Reynolds was jailed in 1964 for four years for safe blowing, burglary, theft and handling explosives. In 1970, he was given a two-and-a-half-year jail term for burglary. In 1976, he received 18 months imprisonment for theft.

Judge Whitburn said the defendant was a ruined man who had been a serious villain in the 1960s and 1970s.

He said: "The wheel for you has turned full circle."

Reynolds was ordered to pay back £422,252 or face an additional five-year prison sentence.

He waved to the Press as he was led from the dock.

Tennick, who was described as living in Reynolds' shadow, must repay £225,747.50 or face an additional three-year sentence.

The £500,000 seized by police will go towards the repayment ordered by the court and the pair must pay £50,000 each within 28 days to settle the balance.

Both were ordered to pay £5,000 prosecution costs.

Last night, Mrs Reynolds said that although the couple had lived apart for nearly six years, she still had a place in her heart for him.

She is convinced that the multi-millionaire, once one of Britain's wealthiest men, did not set out to cheat the tax man of £650,000. She said: "He has been a foolish man, but not a bad man.

"He has always been a worker, not a shirker and felt very responsible for his employees.

"He is illiterate and needs people around him to look out for him. He wouldn't even know what a tax return was.

"George had lots of people around him to deal with those things. I'm sure it is just pure ignorance and trusting in others to carry out the essentials that has led to this."

Taking over Darlington Football Club in 1999 was, she said, a desperate attempt to gain the public's respect, which ultimately led to the breakdown of their relationship and to the demise of Reynolds himself. "He was a successful man, but couldn't accept the love of just those closest to him, he needed to give himself a pat on the back, and buying the football club was his way of doing that.

"He wanted people to recognise his success and thought the club would do that.

"He loved the public adoration and the only time I saw him really ecstatic was when the crowds worshipped him.

"But it all got too much and he couldn't walk out, I didn't want to be in public life, so let him carry on, but I couldn't be part of that.

"Darlington Football Club had many casualties in our lives.

"A lot of the trappings he had, I don't think were for personal pleasure, but to show the world how well he lived."