A jury in England today retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a racing tipster and two of his associates accused of defrauding shareholders in a bloodstock company.
Ron Dawson, 62, who ran a string of companies from stables in Newmarket, Suffolk, denies conspiring to defraud, two charges of false accounting and an allegation that he illegally gave himself a #100,000 loan from the funds of one of his companies.
His wife Maureen, 41, and former accountant Andrew Irish, 48, deny conspiring to defraud.
Dawson, a former shipyard worker, who was born in Barrow, Cumbria, and his wife formerly lived in Newmarket but have since moved to Alicante, Spain. Irish lives in the village of Saxon Street near Newmarket.
The fraud allegations relate to two firms - Classic Bloodstock and Classic Bloodstock II - set up by Dawson in the early and mid 1990s.
The trial, at Basildon Crown Court, Essex, began in early October.
The jury was sent home for the night after failingto reach a verdict and will resume its deliberations tomorrow.
