Gary Lineker's 'burglar' brother Wayne Lineker is jailed for fraud

The brother of the former England striker Gary Lineker, a winner of the Fifa fair play award, has been jailed for two and a half years for fraud.

Wayne Lineker, 43, who owns of a string of holiday theme bars built on his brother's reputation, was branded a "burglar and thief" by a judge.

Between 1999 and 2001 Wayne Lineker masterminded an operation to smuggle pesetas and escudos worth £220,000 into Britain, avoiding taxes of about £90,000.

Wayne was an outstanding junior player when the Lineker brothers were growing up in Leicester. He appeared destined for great things, while his older brother Gary was thought to lack the necessary fleetness of foot. Those predictions, made by the boys' father several decades ago, were further confounded yesterday as Wayne began his prison sentence.

Southwark Crown Court heard how Lineker, 17 months younger than his brother and also a millionaire, gave an official at NatWest stockbrokers "perks and back handers" to launder bundles of currency brought into the UK in suitcases. By putting the money though the bank's internal currency system, the employee, John Stacey, was able to change the money into sterling at favourable rates.

The scam was uncovered by auditors at NatWest who discovered the unauthorised cash passing through their system, and alerted the authorities.

Until Stacey was recruited, Lineker and his accomplices had been taking the assignments of cash to individual bureaux de change, but that had proved too expensive.

Lineker, of Fyfield, Essex, and his manager and "right-hand man" Dave Hodges, of Waltham Abbey, admitted conspiring to defraud tax authorities. Stacey, 56, of Southend, who was given four-figure payments for his part in the scam, was convicted in February.

Judge Stephen Robins told Lineker yesterday: "You through your counsel accept prime responsibility for initiating the conspiracy which was sustained over a period of about 18 months and led to a loss of £90,000 tax." He warned Lineker that he would face a further 24 months in jail if he failed to pay a £90,000 confiscation order. Hodges was sentenced to 20 months.

As Lineker begins his sentence in prison, where the boredom will be broken this summer by watching his brother fronting the BBC's World Cup coverage, he will also have time to reflect on how their career paths have diverged.

Both were Leicester City season ticket holders and trained as part of a club-backed scheme. In Gary Lineker's autobiography, his father Barry was quoted as saying: "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 the discipline."

The difference in the siblings' characters was nowhere more apparent than in their approach to practice, with Wayne always a reluctant trainer, their father said.

Gary's career took off when he broke into the Leicester City first team in 1979, and by the time he hung up his boots his CV included stints at Everton Barcelona and Spurs, concluding with a lucrative period in Japan.

The sibling connection made all the difference for Wayne as he set about establishing a chain of bars in holiday destinations popular with football-loving Britons. Wayne opened the first "World Famous Lineker's Bar" in Playas de las Americas, Tenerife, in 1988 and now owns nine bars and three franchises in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and the Canary Islands. "Lineker's" in Albufeira, on Portugal's Algarve, became a watering hole for hundreds of England fans during the 2004 European Championships.

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."

Wayne also paid tribute to his sibling, saying: "He had more patience than I have ever had. I was more skilful but he was more dedicated. Gary has always been more sensible."