Former Aston Villa and West Ham striker John Carew could be heading behind bars as a consequence of his alleged tax invasion, reports The Sun.
Carew scored 38 goals in the Premier League across spells with Aston Villa and Stoke City. He also played for West Ham United during their time in the second tier of English football, the last club he played for before retiring from football in 2013.
He has now reportedly landed himself in hot water in his retirement, with The Sun reporting that Carew is being accused of avoiding paying £500k in tax between the years of 2014 and 2019.
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The report notes that Carew also failed to report as much as £1m in income throughout that same period, while he’s also understood to have hidden an eye-watering £27m from the authorities.
Carew and his legal team have pleaded ignorance, but as is mentioned in the report by The Sun, the maximum penalty for tax evasion, especially on this scale, is six years imprisonment.
He will no doubt be desperate to avoid spending even a single day in jail but faces a nervous wait to discover what punishment is handed to him when he makes an appearance on the stand.
