Jockey's bank details found at home of professional gambler

The bank details of Fergal Lynch were found at the home of Miles Rodgers, the Old Bailey was told yesterday. Lynch is one of three jockeys accused of riding horses to protect lay bets by Rodgers, who is a professional gambler.

Lynch's details were found in a black briefcase in the hallway at White Gates, in Sheffield, on the morning Rodgers was arrested in September 2004, according to uncontested evidence.

Statements read from City of London police said mobile telephones were also seized in the early-morning raid. Officers also searched Rodgers's Italian restaurant, Tiamo in Sheffield, and found paper in a shredder. Some of it was re-constituted by Police Sergeant Richard Peacock, who colour-coded strips and photo-copied them, the court heard. One of the pages had the initials KF and £2,500 on it, he said.

Lynch, Rodgers and four others – including Kieren Fallon, the six-times champion jockey – all deny charges of conspiracy to defraud customers of the online betting exchange, Betfair.

Earlier, Andrew Balding, the trainer of Ballinger Ridge, agreed to a defence suggestion that Fallon made a "howling blunder" on the horse and was "mortified" after they lost at Lingfield on March 2, 2004. This was the race in which Fallon had a commanding lead but eased up and finished second, beaten a short-head by Rye.

Balding said Fallon had been worried that the mandatory 21-day ban for "dropping his hands" would mean him missing the Dubai World Cup meeting. Missing the world's richest race meant Fallon had to suffer "a huge penalty" for his failure, said Balding.

The case was adjourned until Monday.