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Picture by: Alastair Grant/AP/Press Association Images
Court

They were a regular 'odd couple': Redknapp and Mandaric lawyers attack prosecution case

‘I do not shrink from suggesting to you it is repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness in the criminal justice process.’

HARRY REDKNAPP’S LAWYER today insisted the case against his client was ‘repugnant to all basic instincts of fairness’.

Redknapp and Mandaric deny cheating the public revenue over cash paid into a Monaco bank account.

Defence barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC blasted the fact that the prosecution had, he said, made a News of the World investigation ‘the lynchpin’ of their case against the Tottenham Hotspur boss.

In his closing speech at Southwark Crown Court in south London, the barrister said the crown was relying on “primarily despicable” evidence gathered by reporter Rob Beasley.

Redknapp said during the trial that he had not been honest with Beasley, as he wanted him ‘off his back’ in the run-up to Spurs’ League Cup final with Mancehster United in 2009.

He said: “I do not shrink from suggesting to you it is repugnant to all our basic instincts of fairness in the criminal justice process.”

Earlier, Redknapp and former Portsmouth FC chairman Milan Mandaric were compared to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s ”The Odd Couple”.

Madaric’s defence lawyer, Lord Macdonald QC also said that accusations over payments from Mandaric were  ”paper thin”. Tottenham play Liverpool in a Premier League clash at Anfield tonight; the north London club will fly the manager to Merseyside on a private jet, they have confirmed.

The court was adjourned until tomorrow when the judge will begin summing up evidence.

- additional reporting AP

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