A fraudster who conned West Ham players and Sam Allardyce out of more than £60,000 through a Christmas hamper scam has been jailed for four years.
Stephen Ackerman targeted the east London club’s staff, including then-boss Mr Allardyce and England striker Andy Carroll, when he visited their training ground to sell them luxury hampers.
Ackerman used the pseudonym Mark Kingston while selling the goods during a visit to the training ground in December 2014.
He took payment from a number of players and staff using a hand-held chip-and-pin device.
The luxury items were never delivered and in the following weeks, some of the victims noticed unauthorised payments running into the thousands charged to their bank accounts.
They reported the matter to police and Ackerman was arrested. He was caught after search warrants were carried out at addresses linked to him.
The 48-year-old had previously been found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court of 18 counts of fraud.