Yahoo News Leicestershire County Cricket Club takes action over cricketer who was spared jail after falsely claiming he was joining the team
Leicestershire County cricket club is taking action over an abusive husband who was spared jail after claiming he was about to sign a contract with the club.
Mustafa Bashir, admitted actual bodily harm against his wife but was freed by judge Richard Mansell QC after his lawyers told the court he had been offered a contract by Leicestershire as a professional player, on provision that he was not sent to prison.
Today the cricket club announced that it was taking legal action over Mr Bashir's claims, saying they were "wholly false".
Leicestershire's legal team have contacted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police to complain.
The club's chief executive has also given a statement from their chief executive saying they are "appalled" that Bashir could have invented a job offer from the club "to evade a prison sentence".
Bashir, 34, from Manchester, claimed the three-time championship winning county club had offered him a contract shortly before his arrest for beating his wife Fakhara Karim with his own bat and forcing her to drink bleach.
His lawyer Hugh McKee told a court hearing: "He has continued to play professionally in a local cricket league but of some importance certainly to him is if he is allowed to keep his liberty he will be employed by Leicestershire as a professional.
"He was about to sign the contract when he was arrested. He has continued to work, and he has a second job and potentially a very good job doing what he has always done - ie playing cricket."
He was given an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Audley and Wood Lane cricket clubs confirmed that the minor-league cricketer had played for them in the past few years but expressed surprise at the suggestion Bashir had been offered a contract with Leicestershire.
The CPS have already announced they are investigating the case following Leicestershire's denial that they had ever offered Bashir a contract.
MPs have also called for the Attorney General to review the case after the judge's suggestion that Ms Karim was not "vulnerable" because she had friends and a university degree provoked fury from women's rights campaigners.
Bashir left the 33-year-old a broken woman after he repeatedly beat her, berated her for wearing westernised clothing, tried to turn her against her own family, and would call her a 'slag" when she went out socialising with female friends.
On one occasion he forced his wife to take tablets and drink bleach and told her to kill herself during a row over him going on a cricket tour to the Netherlands, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Miss Karim told police her husband had left her fearing for her life. In a statement she added: "Before I met Mustafa Bashir I was a confident, active and humorous person.
"I can't see how I could trust another man again after what happened to me. I dreamt of being in a happy relationship and I do not feel now that that will ever happen with someone else."
A spokesperson for Leicestershire told the Telegraph: "After Monday’s widely reported claim by Mustafa Bashir in his plea of mitigation following his conviction of actual bodily harm against his wife, that he had been offered a playing contract by Leicestershire County Cricket Club, the club have taken immediate steps to bring to the attention of the authorities that Bashir’s claim was wholly false.
"The club’s legal advisers emailed a letter to Bashir’s legal team reiterating that the club had never spoken or had any contact with Bashir or offered him a job.
"They also contacted the CPS to arrange for the club’s Chief Executive, Wasim Khan, to give a statement to the same effect. This has now been given to Manchester police and they and the CPS will now be taking this matter forward."
Leicestershire CCC Chief Executive Wasim Khan said: “Leicestershire CCC are appalled that Bashir could have invented a job offer from the club in order, it would seem, to evade a prison sentence.
“The club are actively involved in the fight against domestic abuse and had already arranged a ‘Bowling Out Domestic Violence’ cricket match in September in support of the White Ribbon Campaign, set up to tackle domestic violence.
“So Bashir’s claim was deeply disturbing for the club and we will continue to do what we can to support the authorities bring about justice.”
