Trevor Sinclair bankrupt after ‘burying head in sand' over debts
Former England winger Trevor Sinclair has been declared bankrupt over a tax debt totalling £36,000.
Sinclair, 52, was accused by a judge of 'burying his head in the sand' over the debt, which relates to his punditry work in the 2021/22 tax year.
Sinclair, who is currently a coach for the Jamaica national team and played in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United and Manchester City, was declared bankrupt after he did not turn up at court this week.
He was previously given extra time to find the money in April, when Judge Caroline Wilkinson warned: 'Mr Sinclair has to wake up to the fact that there's no more head in the sand because this is serious'.
Lawyers for HMRC said the amount owed (£36,424) includes two sums of more than £13,000 for punditry work, plus outstanding National Insurance and penalty payments.
Champion News Service reports that Shabab Rizvi, the HMRC barrister, said: 'The debtor is a former Premier League footballer and should have the means to satisfy the debt, but there's been no contact with HMRC at all.'
In April the judge heard that Sinclair ended up owing the money following the death of his accountant. The case was then adjourned after Sinclair's lawyer told the court that the former footballer's debt arose from him being wrongly considered self-employed. Sinclair's lawyer also said he was working in the media and 'currently in receipt of a job offer in Saudi Arabia'.
But Sinclair failed to show up when the case returned to court this week, with Judge Wilkinson saying: 'Mr Sinclair is not in attendance today and no proposals have been put forward for paying his debt. In the circumstances, the court finds that Mr Sinclair is unable to pay his debts as they fall due and it will make the bankruptcy order.'
Sinclair, who made 12 appearances for England, previously lost a punditry role with the BBC after racially abusing a police officer who had arrested him for drink-driving.
And in 2022 he was suspended by Talksport after suggesting black and Asian communities should not mourn the Queen.
Within two hours of Buckingham Palace confirming the Queen's death, Sinclair had posted online: 'Racism was outlawed in England in the 60's & its [sic] been allowed to thrive so why should black & brown mourn!! #queen.'
This was later followed by an apology, in which he said: 'My tweet yesterday was ill timed at a time when the royal family, and many around the world were grieving for the Queen. I apologise for any offence caused to those mourning The Queen.'
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