FORMER Darlington FC chairman George Reynolds has failed to win a cut in his three-year jail term for cheating the taxman out of more than £400,000.

London's Criminal Appeal Court concluded that while three years was a tough sentence, it could not be described as manifestly excessive.

Reynolds was told in October by a Newcastle Crown Court judge that his offence was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence would suffice.

Reynolds, 69, of Monument Court, Nevilles Cross, Durham City, pleaded guilty with his cousin, Richard Tennick, 59, to cheating HM Revenue and Customs out of £650,000 in unpaid tax.

Lord Justice Waller, sitting with two other judges, said Reynolds undoubtedly was "at one stage" a very rich man with all the trappings of wealth, including a series of houses, boats and other possessions.

He said: "At some stage, Reynolds, and indeed Tennick, had the misfortune to become involved in the affairs of Darlington Football Club.

"It would seem it was on the basis of his fortune that the club was able to built a football stadium, way beyond the needs of that club."

In arguing for a sentence cut for Reynolds, his QC, David Robson, described the former chairman as "a man of powerful personality, a man of great determination, but certainly - as psychiatric and psychological testing shows - not a man of any intellectual ability.

"Mr Reynolds really had no private life beyond his business. He has, of course, had girlfriends and wives - but no social life.

"The business was his world, he therefore really regarded it as his empire to do with as he saw fit."

Sitting with Mr Justice Gray and Sir Richard Curtis, Lord Justice Waller noted the amount involved was £425,252.50, adding the sentencing judge was entitled to treat the case as a "blatant and deliberate cheat".

He also refused to cut the two-year jail term imposed on Tennick, whose benefit was £225,747.50.

Reynolds, and Tennick, 59, of Manfield, North Yorkshire, were jailed in October after pleading guilty to cheating HM Revenue and Customs.