Sporting Icons owner found guilty of faking autographs

Apr 2 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

THE owner of a Chester shop has been found guilty of conning the public by selling fake sports star autographs.

A jury at Chester Crown Court took 21 hours to find reach verdicts in the case involving Graeme Walker, 45, owner of Watergate Row-based Sporting Icons Ltd, who sold photos and shirts featuring forged signatures.

Walker, of Mountain View Close, Connah’s Quay, was found guilty on 51 of the 53 charges against him, including dishonestly trading by selling faked signatures of Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard, Jonny Wilkinson and others.

He was cleared of selling a fraudulent Worthington Cup Final Liverpool FC match shirt purporting to be the original match shirt worn by Michael Owen.

He was also cleared of selling a photograph with a fake signature of Owen.

Fellow defendant Faisal Madani, 43, of Bramhall, Stockport, was accused of supplying forgeries to Sporting Icons.

Madani was convicted of 18 of the 20 charges against him including supplying many of the items to Walker. He was cleared of selling a photograph with a fake signature of Gerrard and of selling 58 England caps bearing a false trade mark.

Sporting Icons Ltd was found guilty on 49 of the 51 charges laid against it.

Walker was released on bail and Madani was remanded in custody until sentencing, which takes place tomorrow (Thursday).

John Weeks, Cheshire County Council’s director of community services, on behalf of Trading Standards which brought the prosecution, said: “Ruthless exploitation of the devotion that fans show to their clubs and sporting heroes was exposed on a scale which shocked us and indeed helped to fund a high street business.

“Liverpool, Manchester United and their players, together with Jonny Wilkinson and Michael Owen shared our concerns and helped uncover a situation which highlights the need for considerable caution on the part of anyone buying this type of memorabilia.”