The Review Roles of the Court of Appeal: Grobelaar v News International

Abstract

Bruce Grobelaar is a 43 year old Zimbabwean who came to England as a professional goalkeeper. He played 628 matches for Liverpool over 13 years, during which Liverpool won the League title six times; he then transferred to Southampton. His general reputation was: outstanding but erratic. In a sensational scoop The Sun newspaper accused him of match-fixing, by deliberately letting in goals for bribes. How the evidence for this was obtained was central to the legal processes that followed, and will be referred to below. As a result of this publicity he was investigated. Detectives searched his family home and removed 12,000 documents, examined records from 52 telephones and interviewed 700 witnesses. They found bank accounts linking him with an alleged briber, Mr Lim, and also records of phone calls linking him with other suspects some made at half-time and others made immediately after games ended. Mr Grobelaar was arrested in March 1995 and later charged, with others, and tried at Winchester Crown Court. The jury was unable to agree a verdict, and a second trial was ordered. The jury was again 'hung' on one charge, but acquitted on the other. The Football Association however found him to have broken its Rules against betting activities, so he was suspended and fined. Since then he has coached a team in South Africa.