Hosts cleared in satellite footie case

Ian Porteous, of the Roebuck Inn, in Silverdale, and Gary and Karen Dixon, former licensees of the Fox & Duck pub, Birches Head, were cleared of charges because the judge did not believe they had acted dishonestly.

Porteous told district judge Simon Morgan that he would have changed the system he had purchased from Satellite Solutions if he had been told it was illegal.

District judge Morgan said it was “amazing” that there was no record of what happened at a meeting between Media Protection Services (MPS) and Porteous, other than a completed form following a visit on 17 November 2009.

Porteous was also given two letters — one from the Premier League and one from the Albanian broadcaster — but the judge said these could not easily be understood by someone who does not understand law.

Porteus denied a charge of dishonestly receiving a programme with intent to avoid payment, arguing that he had paid for the system, which led him to believe it was legal.

An MPS spokesperson said: “There have been two matters where the defendants have been acquitted on subjective dishonesty following a full trial and MPS respects the decision of the court in those matters.”

However, Kieran Devine, who owns O’Leary’s in Stoke, was fined £2,000 for showing live Premier League football via a foreign satellite system, with pub manager Trevor Cotton fined a further £500.

The judgement in the landmark Karen Murphy foreign satellite case is expected to be made by the European Court of Justice on 4 October.