A PARISH councillor has defended his role in a betting scandal in which he was found to have committed corrupt and fraudulent acts.

David Kendrick, who sits on Shepreth Parish Council, is banned from attending any races organised by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for four years.

The body found Mr Kendrick, who lives in Shepreth, was involved in laying bets based on inside information, along with several others, including owners and jockeys, who had deliberately ridden their horses to lose in 2009.

Four jockeys and two horse owners were found by the BHA to have played a part, with all banned for several years.

Two owners were barred from BHA races for 14 years.

Mr Kendrick claimed he was helping a friend.

The 62-year-old said he allowed Liam Vasey, who was also found to have been involved and was banned for five years, to gamble on an online account for about 18 months.

Mr Kendrick said: “Because the bets were on my account we shared the money quarterly because you can have a very good or poor month.

“I knew he did a lot of research. I wasn’t interested. If I knew what was going on I might have been.”

Mr Kendrick told The Crow that Mr Vasey was spread betting and that he had subsequently lost access to his online account in the wake of the probe.

The disciplinary panel report stated: “Mr Kendrick was Mr Vasey’s betting partner, though he had been banned from having a Betfair account.

“He could place bets using the “Scottishfootball” account and a Betdaq account in his name, “Dkendrick”.

“But in Mr Kendrick’s case, as with Mr Vasey, the panel does not decide that he was aware that the inside information consisted of agreements by jockeys to stop their horses.

“He was a conspirator for the same races as Mr Vasey.”

Although summoned to the disciplinary panel to face the charges, Mr Kendrick said he did not attend, as it was a civil matter and he objected to the fact that jockeys would have to pay for legal representation themselves.

He said this did not make him feel “very comfortable” as their livelihoods were at stake.

The Crow asked Mr Kendrick if he thought the electorate would be concerned at his involvement.

He said: “They have the ability to vote me out next time, if that’s what they choose.

“But I think that more people are interested in how well someone does their job.

“If they want they can come and talk to me.”

The Gambling Commission will now consider whether to bring criminal charges against any of those involved.