Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung jailed for six years

The 54-year-old was found guilty of laundering £55 million through his bank accounts between 2001 and 2007.

The businessman, who took control of the football club in 2009, had denied the charges, but Judge Douglas Yau told a packed courtroom he was 'self-contradictory' in his evidence and was 'making it up as he went along'.

Yeung, who was arrested and charged in June 2011, claimed he had accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars through stock trading, business ventures in China, a hair salon and gambling.

But Judge Yau said: "I find the defendant not a witness of truth. I find that he is someone who is prepared to, and did try to, lie whenever he saw the need to do so."

The court heard the former hair stylist was unable to show where £7.7m in his bank accounts had come from.

In summing up, Judge Yau said there was reasonable doubt to believe that various business deals represented 'proceeds of an indictable offence'. It remains to be seen whether the 54-year-old will appeal against the length of the jail term.

Yeung is still the majority shareholder at Birmingham but resigned in February as the club's president, director and chairman of the club's parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Ltd.

On Monday the club said Yeung's conviction would have no impact on its day-to-day operations.