A Scottish football league player scored his team’s goals on the same day a court heard he plotted with friends to carry out a betting scam for nearly £14,000.
Kane Hester scored both goals in Elgin City’s 2-0 win just hours after being accused of conspiring to con an online bookmaker out of £13,583.
Hester put in a man-of-the-match performance against Kelty Hearts in the League Two clash after his case was continued in his absence at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
The charge alleges former Arbroath striker Hester deliberately stamped on a Hibs player during a cup match so he would get booked by referee Willie Collum.
Hester is alleged to have plotted before the match with three others – not footballers – to place a series of bets on him being booked by the referee.
‘Fraudulent scheme’ claims
The charge against Montrose men Hester, Findlay Soutar, Calvin Parrot and Brodie Stewart Myles alleges they duped bookmaker Bet365 out of £13,583.
The quartet are alleged to have hatched a plot to bet on Hester being booked almost a week before the Betfred League Cup tie between Elgin City and Hibs on July 26, 2019.
They deny “forming a fraudulent scheme to obtain money by placing bets that Kane Hester would receive a booking by the referee during the match” at Boroughbriggs Stadium in Elgin.
The charge alleges the four men carried out the con between July 20 and August 2, 2019 and received £17,333.32 in payments from Bet365.
The charge alleges £13,583.32 was obtained as unlawful winnings.
The quartet are said to have agreed before the group stage match that “Kane Hester would purposely commit a foul during the course of the match and receive a booking from the referee”.
They are alleged to have placed five separate bets on Hester being booked and the charge states he was shown a yellow card for stamping on a Hibs player.
All allegations denied
An alternate version of the charge alleges they cheated at gambling by placing five bets on Hester being booked and that he was shown a yellow card for a foul, leading to them falsely obtaining £13,583.32 in winnings.
Hester, 26, Soutar, 25, Parrot, 26, and Myles, 28, have all denied the allegations and the case was continued until later this year.
The court has been told certain areas of evidence could be agreed between the Crown and defence agents but that experts would need to analyse the Crown’s phone evidence ahead of the scheduled trial.
Hester played more than 60 times for Arbroath between 2015 and 2019, scoring nine goals.
He left for Albion Rovers before signing for Elgin City in January 2019.
The striker Hester has scored 12 goals in 22 league and cup games for Elgin City this season and has been booked four times and sent off once.
