Case against Redknapp is repugnant, says barrister

The prosecution case at Harry Redknapp’s tax evasion trial is “repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness”, a court heard.

John Kelsey-Fry, defending, launched a fierce attack on the Crown for using a News of the World investigation as its “crucial lynchpin” in the case.

“There is an inherent absurdity that shrieks out at you” in some of the allegations that Redknapp took £189,000 in bungs, he told London’s Southwark Crown Court.

Betting odds crashed for Redknapp being the next Premier League manager to be sacked two days before allegations were made public, jurors were told.

Kelsey-Fry said bookmakers slashed bets from 50/1 to evens after a flurry of wagers on the Friday before accusations against Redknapp and co-defendant Milan Mandaric, his former chairman at Portsmouth Football Club, appeared in the Sunday tabloid.

In his closing speech, he said the Crown was relying on “primarily despicable” evidence gathered by reporter Rob Beasley.

“I do not shrink from suggesting to you it is repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness in the criminal justice process.”

Referring to interviews carried out Beasley, Kelsey-Fry said: “They saw a great story, all’s fair in love and war at the News of the World.”

Redknapp and Mandaric were an “odd couple” like the old Hollywood film, the court heard earlier.

Mandaric’s defence counsel Lord Macdonald said the prosecution was “really flailing” with “paper-thin” explanations for the Monaco payments.

He also highlighted Mandaric’s multibillion-pound business dealings, saying: “Steve Jobs doesn’t work with fools.”

“It’s really desperate stuff” to suggest Mandaric might have intended the payments as a reward for Portsmouth beating Manchester United, jurors heard.

It also “simply doesn’t make sense” that the first payment was a bonus for the £3m (€3.62m) profit made over the sale of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth to Aston Villa. “We say the evidence against him is hopelessly weak,” he said.

Both Redknapp, 64, of Poole, Dorset, and Mandaric, from Oadby, Leicestershire, deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when Redknapp was manager of Portsmouth.

The first charge alleges that between Apr 1, 2002, and Nov 28, 2007, Mandaric paid £93,100 into the account.

The second charge relates to a sum of £96,300 allegedly paid between May 1, 2004, and Nov 28, 2007.

Judge Anthony Leonard will begin summing up evidence in the case today.