Trevor Sinclair, former England winger and BBC pundit, made bankrupt over tax debt | EUROtoday

Former England winger Trevor Sinclair has been adjudicated bankrupt over a £36,000 tax debt.

The former QPR, West Ham and Manchester City star scooped 12 England caps throughout his profession and made a fortune earlier than changing into a TV and radio pundit.

But on Thursday he was made bankrupt by HMRC after failing to pay taxes and penalties totalling £36,424.

The debt associated to pundit work undertaken within the 2021-22 tax 12 months.

Sinclair, 52, had beforehand been given further time to provide you with the cash or various proposals to pay. However, he didn’t flip as much as courtroom.

Judge Caroline Wilkinson mentioned HMRC had acquired no contact from Sinclair and concluded that he’s “unable to pay his debts as they fall due”.

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The case beforehand reached Central London County Court in April, the place the decide heard that Sinclair ended up owing a sizeable chunk of money to the taxman after his accountant died.

The quantity contains two giant sums of over £13,000 for work as a pundit, plus excellent National Insurance and penalty funds, HMRC attorneys mentioned.

The taxman had needed a chapter order, with HMRC barrister Shabab Rizvi saying: “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.”

However, the case was adjourned to give him more time to pay after his lawyer Robert Lee told the court Sinclair was working in the media and “currently in receipt of a job offer in Saudi Arabia”.

He said the debt arose from Sinclair “being considered self-employed when he ought not to have been”.

Giving him the extra time in April, Judge Wilkinson warned the former footballer he had to face the reality of his situation, commenting: “Mr Sinclair has to wake up to the fact that there’s no more head in the sand because this is serious”.

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But when the case returned to court on Thursday, the HMRC lawyer disclosed that Sinclair had again failed to materialise, asking the judge to confirm HMRC’s bankruptcy petition.

“The last hearing was adjourned in order for proposals to be put forward by Mr Sinclair, but we have received no contact from him since then and nor have any proposals been put forward,” she mentioned.

Judge Wilkinson, making the chapter order, mentioned the case had been paused for Sinclair to think about pursuing a substitute for chapter reminiscent of an “particular person voluntary association”.

“Mr Sinclair is just not in attendance in the present day and no proposals have been put ahead for paying his debt,” she continued.

“In the circumstances, the courtroom finds that Mr Sinclair is unable to pay his money owed as they fall due and it’ll make the chapter order.”

Sinclair played four times for England at the 2002 World Cup and also scored the Match of the Day goal of the season in 1997 for a spectacular bicycle kick for QPR against Barnsley FC.

He retired in 2008, but his later career as a TV and radio pundit tailed off when he questioned why “black and brown individuals” have been mourning Queen Elizabeth after her loss of life in 2022, which led to him being taken off the air by talkSPORT.

That adopted an earlier setback in 2018 when he was convicted of drink driving and racially abusing a police officer after an incident by which he urinated whereas sitting in a police automobile after being arrested.