Greg Rutherford's former agent jailed for £44,000 con

Team GB star: Greg Rutherford
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The former agent of British Olympic star Greg Rutherford MBE who swindled the sporting hero out of £44,000 to feed his gambling habit has been jailed for 18 months.

Gab Stone, 34, was trusted by the long jump champion to organise media appearances and sponsorships, but kept hold of the fees as his personal finances spiralled out of control.

When Mr Rutherford realised he was owed substantial sums, he confronted Stone who lied that the star had lost the money in a bad investment scheme.

But faced with a full-scale audit into his finances, Stone confessed to the star that he had taken the money to feed his out-of-control gambling addiction.

Mr Rutherford, who employed Stone from 2009 to the discovery of the fraud in April 2015, said betrayal made him "feel sick" and caused him stress and anxiety that may have affected his sporting performance.

Jailing Stone for 18 months at Blackfriars crown court today, Judge John Hillen told him: "People in and out of the public eye rely upon companies such as yours to supply management so they can concentrate on their profession or their talent.

"Such clients are often not commercially knowledgable, sometimes even naive because their focus is elsewhere.

"What you did was to take advantage of Greg Rutherford's trust for your own addictive pleasure - a gambling habit which you had addressed in the past but which resurfaced.

"Mr Rutherford, in his victim impact statement, states the thought of someone responsible for a huge part of his life and work, someone who he put trust in to handle a major source of income, was in fact being dishonest just left him feeling sick.

"He talked of the stress on him and his family because of the financial consequences, not least being potentially liable for income tax on money he had never received, and the need to keep funding training under severe financial pressures resulting from your dishonesty."

The court heard despite his confession to Mr Rutherford and an offer to pay back £44,488 he had dishonestly taken between October 2014 and April 2015, Stone stayed silent when quizzed by police and insisted he would fight a fraud charge.

However, he pleaded guilty just before his trial was due to begin.

Some of Stone's clients, including three Olympians, have stuck by him despite his conviction, writing to the court with character references.

But the judge said the letters would have meant more if Stone had confessed to his crimes after first being arrested.

Stone had a deal with Mr Rutherford to generate commercial deals and he would keep a 20 per cent commission of any fees.

However, the agent, who started his career at former sprinter Linford Christie's agency, had a secret gambling problem which he had been battling since university.

Julia Flanagan, defending, said Stone, who counted gymnast Louis Smith and boxer Nicola Adams among his clients, had quit gambling in 2013, even writing to major bookies asking to be blacklisted.

But she said the addiction re-emerged in 2014 when he was presented with an iPad specifically set up for gambling, and offered £3000 in free bets as well as a £10,000 line of credit.

She said he started betting again, and used money which was due to Mr Rutherford to feed his habit, while always insisting to himself that he would pay it back.

"He knows he has demons but he's doing everything he can to face them down", she said.

She said Stone, after being fired by the long jumper, was taken on by the Activate agency, under a deal where most of his salary was paid to settling his huge debts.

Stone has also paid back all the money he owed Mr Rutherford after borrowing funds from friends and family.

Stone, of Edgware Road, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud at an earlier hearing.

He looked bewildered as the judge told him he would be jailed, staring aghast at sobbing family members in the public gallery as he was led away to the cells.

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