3 OCT 2026
FIVE YEARS UNDER A TAX CLOUD
Harry Redknapp was charged in January 2010 with cheating the public revenue over £189,000 placed in a Monaco account named Rosie47. The investigation had followed him for five years. In February 2012, after five hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously acquitted him and co-defendant Milan Mandarić on every charge.
In 2006, a police investigation into alleged corruption in English football began examining financial arrangements involving clubs, executives and agents. One strand eventually focused on payments made to Harry Redknapp while he was manager of Portsmouth.
The payments totalled approximately £189,000 and had been placed in a Monaco bank account named Rosie47 — a reference to Redknapp's bulldog and the year of his birth.
Prosecutors alleged that the money had been connected to Redknapp's employment and deliberately concealed to avoid tax. Redknapp and former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić said it was an unsuccessful personal investment between friends, unrelated to his work at the club.
Redknapp was charged in January 2010 with two counts of cheating the public revenue. By then, the investigation had already followed him for several years.
When the case reached Southwark Crown Court in January 2012, Redknapp was managing Tottenham Hotspur and was widely regarded as a possible future England manager. The trial placed one of the country's best-known football figures in the dock at the height of his career.
For nearly three weeks, jurors heard about the offshore account, the payments and Redknapp's conversations with a News of the World journalist. The details created an uncomplicated public impression: secret money, Monaco and unpaid tax.
The evidence produced a different conclusion.
On 8 February 2012, the jury unanimously acquitted both Redknapp and Mandarić on every charge after approximately five hours of deliberation.
Redknapp emerged from court and said that the case should never have been brought. He described the five-year investigation as a nightmare for himself and his family.
The wider police operation was reported to have cost approximately £8 million without producing a single conviction.
An offshore account may invite suspicion. An unusual name may make compelling copy. Neither establishes criminal conduct.
The allegations followed Harry Redknapp for five years. The jury rejected them in five hours.
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