£3,000 bill for former club manager over illegal Premier League TV

A former social club manager who illegally screened live football games through an Albanian channel has been hit with a bill of almost £3,000.

Premier League matches were found to be showing at Wilkes Social Club in Bloxwich on several occasions following visits on a number of occasions by TV investigators.

Live BSkyB football games were discovered being screened using the Albanian satellite service Tring, with the logo on display in the corner of the television screen.

Ex-designated premises supervisor Derek Kimberley was charged with dishonestly receiving a programme with the intent to avoid payment.

It followed the last inspection by the Media Protection Services on March 19 last year where the Tottenham Hotspur against West Ham match was being shown.

Kimberley was prosecuted at Walsall Magistrates Court and the case was proved in his absence. He was fined £750, ordered to pay £2,145 costs and £15 victim surcharge.

The hearing was told Kimberley has since resigned from his position at the Victoria Avenue club.

It is the latest prosecution to be successfully brought before the courts despite landlords across Staffordshire and the Black Country believing a recent ruling from a top European judge enabled them to show games through cut-price networks.

Although that ruling is likely to become law in the UK following a hearing on February 24, it remains illegal to show games unless it is through a Sky or ESPN subscription package.

Until then showing Premier League games through foreign decoders or satellites remains illegal and Media Protection Services is continuing to prosecute.

The court in Walsall was told the social club was visited on a number of occasions between October 2010 and March 2011. A warning about using an Albanian satellite service with a Tring decoder was issued.

No-one at the social club was available for comment.