4 Nov 2011

Pakistani match fixers sent to prison

8:34 am on 4 November 2011

The three Pakistani cricketers involved in a spot-fixing scandal in England last year have been sent to jail.

The former Pakistan captain Salman Butt was sentenced to 30 months, Mohammad Asif was given one year, and 19-year-old Mohammad Amir, the only one of the trio to express any remorse for his actions, was given a six-month term.

Sports agent Mazhar Majeed, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to making corrupt payments at a pre-trial hearing, was jailed for two years and eight months.

Majeed, who implicated another unnamed Pakistan player in court, was trapped in a sting by now defunct UK newspaper the News Of the World, which broke the spot-fixing story.

Majeed, Butt and Asif are expected to begin their sentences at Wandsworth prison in south London, while Amir is due to be sent to a young offenders' institute in west London.

Lawyers for Butt and Amir have said they will be appealing the sentences.