Sound engineer ‘stole Ray’s tapes’

A SOUND engineer to Ray Charles who is charged with stealing 300 original master recordings had become embroiled in a dispute with the singer’s estate, it emerged yesterday.

Terry Howard, 48, is being held in police custody after the tapes worth €6 million were seized from his home. A judge has reduced his bail from €761,000 to €7,600 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 28.

Howard worked with Charles for two decades and won three Grammys for his work on the late singer’s final album Genius Loves Company.