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Bouncer boss's cash scam
A FEARED security boss, who was being paid for protecting city pubs and clubs even while he was in jail for manslaughter, has landed himself back in court for tax evasion.
Ernie Bewick was still being paid for providing security for nightspots in Sunderland while he served a six-year sentence for beating a man to death.
The 52-year-old was jailed in 1999 for attacking 44-year-old Tony Waters in an assault which was said tro have reduced his face to an unrecognisable, bloody mess.
The attack happened outside the Eastender pub, High Street East, Sunderland after Mr Waters challenged Bewick to a fight.
Bewick was released from his sentence in December 2001 and, despite the amount of time he had spent behind bars, had kept his fearsome reputation.
His name makes sure trouble is kept away from the dozens of pubs, clubs and hotels his company protects.
It was in September 2004, as officers executed a search warrant at his home at Clifton Road, Sunderland, that they found 300,000 in 20 notes wrapped in cling film.
The cash was stashed in two suitcases. Another 15,000 was in a safe.
Bewick immediately confessed 265,000 of the cash was what he had been paid for his security work and 50,000 was being stashed for a relation.
He was able to produce a book identifying weekly payments he had received from establishments he was protecting, Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday.
He told investigators even during the time he was in prison his firm continued to be paid, with the cash being received by his partner on his behalf.
But from April 1996 to January 2005 he never paid a penny of income tax on the cash which was found.
At an earlier hearing Bewick admitted one charge of cheating the revenue between those dates.
He was due to be tried at the beginning of the week on further charges of concealing criminal property, converting criminal property and money laundering – all in relation to the same cash.
But after legal argument the remaining charges were dropped.
Bewick will be sentenced for cheating the revenue, which carries penalties of imprisonment and or an unlimited fine, on April 20.
He was granted bail in the meantime.
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Weather for Sunderland
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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