Geoff Hurst

grrr

Sir Geoff, 68, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who was not in court today, had joined forces with five others to sue businessman Mark Cordner.
They alleged that, in 2003 and 2004, because of Mr Cordner's deceit, they handed over the full purchase price - upfront and without security - for five off-plan apartments in a development called Aloha Royal, near Puerto Banus, Marbella.

They said they are now in a position where their rights over the apartments have either been destroyed or rendered worthless.
Mr Cordner admitted that he made some of the representations alleged by the six: named as Sir Geoff; David Barkley; Terence Hopley; Paul Kenyon; Martin Roberts and Verna Roberts - but denied they were made deceitfully or negligently.
But Mr Justice Keith, sitting in London, ruled that Mr Cordner, of Park Lane, Knebworth, Hertfordshire, was liable and that the six investors were entitled to damages for his deceit.
The amount of damages will be assessed at a later date.
Sir Geoff became a figurehead to entice others to invest after being offered the two bedroom apartments at a special rate of just under £300,000 and told that once built he would double his money.
He even did a promotional video for the Spanish property company Royal Marbella Group, he believed were going to build the luxury apartments .
But he lost all the cash when it turned out the company never even owned the site, where the apartments were later built by another company, and now Sir Geoff believes it was all part of a "cynical scheme" to con investors out of their cash.
He told the court : "I feel some remorse at getting involved in allowing my name to be used and abused in the way it has been."
But added: "Most of the people I have been associated with have been very forgiving of my role in this."
The judge said that the investors got nothing because the developer to whom they paid the purchase price was not in a position to convey good title to the apartments.
Mr Cordner's case was that the "real villain" of the piece was a Michael Hone - whose whereabouts are unknown - and that he was as much a victim of Mr Hone's "fraudulent behaviour" as the claimants.
The judge said: "Indeed, he says that he too was conned by Mr Hone into investing in property in Spain, and was at one time one of the people giving the claimants' solicitors instructions - albeit indirectly - about the proceedings which the claimants were contemplating bringing against Mr Hone or his companies."
The judge said Mr Cordner was "not a man of considerable intelligence" - he had described himself as "not the brightest bulb in the box".
As his own counsel had said, "he was a salesman - you simply had to wind him up and he would be very good at repeating what he was told to best effect".
The judge added: "Mr Cordner says that, like everyone else, he was completely taken in by Mr Hone. The man was 'incredibly charming and plausible'. I do not doubt that at all.
"Mr Cordner would not have been the first person to have been taken in by him, and I am sure that Sir Geoff was as well."
He added: "It may be, though, that it should have occurred to Mr Cordner that something was not quite right about him."
He ruled that Mr Cordner had knowingly made a series of false representations to persuade the claimants to invest.
These included claims that the apartments at Aloha Royal which he was selling were his, that some had been taken by members of his family and that footballing figures Harry Redknapp and Martin Peters were buying there.
Other false claims were that the claimants' money would be kept in a separate account, that there was a bank guarantee in place, and that he would arrange for lawyers to act on their behalf.

I guess he does need the money.