Gary Lineker's brother faces jail over tax fraud plot

Everyone who saw Gary Lineker and his younger brother Wayne play schoolboy football knew that one of them would become a hugely successful sportsman. The vast majority, their father Barry included, thought it would be Wayne.

Instead it was Gary, the less gifted but more diligent of the brothers, who became a football legend: captaining England, playing for Barcelona and winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup. He is now the face of sport on the BBC.

Wayne, on the other hand, appeared at Southwark crown court yesterday facing jail for his part in a £220,000 tax fraud plot. The money came from the string of sporting theme bars he launched in Spain and Portugal bearing the family name and focusing on his brother's achievements. The bars showcased Gary's commemorative England caps, shirts and boots. They even had areas called Gary's Corner.

The court heard how Wayne Lineker, 17 months his brother's junior but also a millionaire, gave a bank official "perks and backhanders" to launder bundles of pesetas and euros that were brought into the UK in suitcases. By putting the money through the internal currency system at NatWest Stockbrokers, the official, John Stacey, was able to change the money into sterling at favourable rates. Previously Wayne Lineker and his associates had been taking the consignments of cash to individual bureaux de change but this had proved expensive.

Wayne Lineker, of Fyfield, Essex and his assistant Dave Hodges, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, both 43, have admitted conspiring to defraud the tax authorities between January 1 1999 and December 31 2001. Stacey, 56, of Southend, Essex, who was "kept sweet" with four-figure payments, was convicted in February. The scam, which cheated the Inland Revenue of up to £100,000, was exposed by auditors at NatWest who discovered the unauthorised cash passing through their system and, having suspended Stacey, alerted the authorities. A subsequent investigation discovered that NatWest itself lost £85,000 from being unwittingly drawn into the currency transactions.

As part of the sentencing process begun yesterday and due to be completed on Monday, the prosecution will seek to confiscate funds from Wayne Lineker, who in addition to a personal fortune owns a £2m house. There was no comment from Gary Lineker yesterday but an associate said: "This will hit him hard. It would upset any brother. But these two are particularly close."

Theirs is a tale of starkly diverging paths. The sons of a market trader and non-league footballer, both were Leicester City season ticket holders from the age of eight and trained twice a week as part of a club-backed scheme. Both scored when winning an under-10s cup final. Their father Barry, quoted in Strikingly Different, the biography of Gary Lineker, said: "Wayne was tremendous: he had so much skill - a lot more than Gary. He had more dribbling ability and that sort of thing whereas Gary is more direct and probably thinks more quickly. Wayne has a lot of talent but he doesn't like discipline."

The training regime set them apart. "Wayne didn't want to bother, but Gary did," he said. "Basically that's been it all the way through. So Wayne drifted into the market with me and Gary went on to great things."

These began at Leicester City, where Gary broke into the first team in 1979 before moving on to Everton and Barcelona. After initial success and then setbacks in Spain, he joined Tottenham Hotspur. He ended his club career in Japan before moving into journalism as a Match of the Day pundit. His brother tired of life in the market but Gary gave him enough to open the first World Famous Lineker's Bar in Playas de las Americas, Tenerife, in 1988. Holidaymakers frequented the bar hoping to bump into Gary, who was touted by staff as a regular visitor to the island.

As Playa de Las Americas grew to incorporate younger, more boisterous holidaymakers, Wayne relocated it to a busier area and its success allowed him to open other bars in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and the Canary Islands. He owns eight and franchises three others, all a magnet for British tourists and football fans.

In a 1996 magazine feature focusing on their relationship Gary said: "Wayne is good at business - he has always been able to turn a penny into a tuppence. I admire the way he has built up the clubs. It is his little empire which will hopefully continue to build and do well and I am very proud of him. Apart from my wife and children, I am closer to Wayne than anyone."

For his part, Wayne noted what had set him apart from his sibling: "He had more patience than I have ever had. I was more skilful but he was more dedicated. Gary has always been more sensible."