Owen Oyston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Owen Oyston
Born	Owen John Oyston
Nationality	British
Education	St Joseph's College, Blackpool
Occupation	Businessman, Actor
Net worth	£105M[1]
Known for	Blackpool F.C., Lancashire Life
Spouse(s)	Vicky Oyston
Children	Karl Oyston

Owen John Oyston (born in County Durham in January 1934) is a controversial self-made multimillionaire English businessman who is the majority owner of Blackpool F.C., a lifelong Labour Party supporter and who was convicted of rape in 1996 and jailed for six years.

Contents 1 Background 2 Conviction for rape 3 Appeal against conviction and subsequent consequences 4 Release from prison 5 Current career 6 Personal life 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Background

Oyston moved with his family to Blackpool aged two where he was educated at St. Mary's Catholic College. He left school at sixteen and started his career as an actor. He briefly starred as a barrister in Granada TV's 1970s afternoon television courtroom drama series, Crown Court.

Oyston had moved to London in the 1950s where he started his business career as a sewing-machine salesman. However the firm failed, and in 1960 he moved home to Blackpool^[2] where he had considerable success in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in the estate agency business. By the mid-1980s Oyston's Estate Agents had become the largest firm of family-owned estate agents in the United Kingdom (UK). In 1987 he sold Oyston's Estate Agents for an estimated £37 million to Royal Insurance,^[3] just weeks before the stock market crash. Also in 1987 he bought a large stake in then struggling Blackpool F.C., becoming the club's owner when he purchased new shares the following year. His ambitions of a new, world class stadium for the club made headlines through much of the 1990s, but never quite came to fruition.

He also built up holdings in the media, building up the successful Lancashire Life series of magazines before selling them in 2000 to the Archant Publishing Company. He was a major investor in the News on Sunday newspaper, a struggling left-wing tabloid newspaper. It had been launched in April 1987 and had been kept afloat during the general election campaign thanks to the extension of a loan from the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). However after the election it went bankrupt and Oyston then bought it outright. Just five months later, in November 1987, it ceased publication.^[4]

He also had media interests in commercial radio. He was chairman of the Red Rose Group, later to be named Trans World Communications (TWC), which owned and launched Red Rose Radio in Preston in October 1982.^[5], Radio Aire in Leeds, Red Dragon Radio in Cardiff and Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. These stations later became part of Emap and then Bauer Radio media groups. Oyston later acquired the ill-fated The Superstation, which had been set up in 1987 as an over-night sustaining service for Independent Local Radio in the UK.^{[citation needed]} He was also a major investor in, and Chief Executive of, Miss World international beauty pageant through TWC until 1991.^[6][2]

In the late 1980s, following the liberalisation of the strict regulations governing the provision of cable television in the UK, Oyston (through Oyston Cable Communications Group Limited) won, and started to develop, six of the government-granted monopoly broadband franchises, issued by the newly established Cable Authority and covering almost 700,000 households and businesses in the Northwest of England^[7]. In 1990, when the Baby Bell operating companies saw an opportunity to use cable telephony to gain a foothold in the UK's telecommunication market, Southwestern Bell acquired a majority 80% stake in the Oyston Cable Communications Group^[8][7]. Oyston's remaining 18% holding was also bought by Southwestern Bell, for £2.99 million, in 1991^[7] (a Statutory Instrument dictated that the remaining 2% holding in Oyston Cable had been vested in Liverpool City Council, on behalf of all the local councils covered by the Oyston franchise areas^[9]).

[edit] Conviction for rape

Oyston had a financial interest in a modelling agency in Manchester and after a high profile police investigation nine charges were levelled against him, including four rape charges.^[3] He was initially arrested on 9 February 1996^[10] At the committal in May 1995, one of the alleged rapes and two separate charges of indecent assault were thrown out by a stipendiary magistrate. Three charges against him came to trial. He was cleared of two but found guilty of one rape. His first trial for indecent assault, against a former model, was in February 1996 for which he was acquitted. The jury could not though agree a verdict on a rape charge against the girl. At the retrial he was acquitted of the rape charge after the former model was shown to have lied at the first trial and it was shown that Oyston had in fact had a long term relationship with her both before and after the alleged rape. She also admitted that it was only after being contacted by police officers investigating the model agency that she felt impelled to speak out having previously made no allegation against Oyston.^[3]

The second rape trial in March 1996 also saw Oyston acquitted, after it was shown that the model had taken money from Oyston, enjoyed a consensual affair with him and had continued to see him socially after the alleged rape.^[3]

The final trial took place at Liverpool Crown Court in April and May 1996, with an allegation of rape four years previously at Oyston's home. Initially she said the rape took place in Autumn 1991, and at the trial stated it took place in the middle of 1992, and eventually, September 1992. She had also made no complaint at the time, and the notes from her police interview were lost. The girl was around 16 years of age at the time of the offence, and Oyston did not admit having intercourse with her. However, the jury did not believe him and he was convicted of rape and indecent assault, for which he was jailed for six years, with the judge saying Oyston had committed "horrendous" crimes against the girl.^[11][3]

During the trial Oyston also claimed he was the victim of a long-running conspiracy by two government ministers, and that a "very nasty campaign" had been waged against him for up to twelve years. Oyston claimed that at one time he was being investigated by the Fraud Squad, the Inland Revenue, the Drugs Squad, the City's regulatory takeover body Imro, international private investigators, the Sunday Times and other newspapers. He told his defence counsel Anthony Scrivener, QC, that he had been cleared of wrongdoing. In 1989, he had won substantial damages, costs and an apology from the Sunday Times.^[2] He also distributed a 72-page glossy booklet, "The Oyston file", detailing the allegations to reporters.^[12]

During the trial much had been made of the fact that Oyston's only high-profile TV appearance during his acting career was in the 1970s TV series Crown Court.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Appeal against conviction and subsequent consequences

After his conviction Oyston continued to insist on his innocence, claiming that he had been framed in an elaborate conspiracy involving business rivals and government ministers. Doubt was raised on the validity of his conviction and the case and the preceding police investigation saw questions raised in the House of Commons, particularly by MP Dale Campbell-Savours who brought it up a number of times from January 1998 onwards ^[13][14][15] then later when he became Baron Campbell-Savours in the House of Lords in 2003.^[16]

In December 1997 Oyston lost his appeal against conviction at the Court of Appeal in London, when the appeal judges upheld the conviction and dismissed his appeal against his six year jail sentence. He had to pay £100,000 court costs.^[11] The Radio Authority then ruled that he was not a fit person to own a radio station. They wrote to the four stations he was known to have a controlling interest in - The Bay (North Lancashire and South Cumbria), Radio 1521 (County Armagh, Northern Ireland), Goldbeat (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) and City Beat 96.7 (Belfast), saying that Oyston should not hold the licenses. He was forced to relinquish control as each of the radio stations stood to lose their license should he retained a controlling interest.^[17][18] He also stood down as chairman of Blackpool F.C. In March 1999 the girl brought a civil action against Oyston for psychological damage, which he settled out of court.^[12] In April 1999 a parole panel rejected his application for parole when he was also said to have been refused a rehabilitation programme in prison because he would not take responsibility for his actions.^[19]

[edit] Release from prison

After serving three years in prison, Oyston was released from prison on parole in December 1999, following a judicial review of the Parole Board's refusal, in October 1999, to grant parole because he had not admitted to the crime. Under normal parole terms, Oyston would have been due for release in May 1999. Oyston, who still maintained his innocence, was released from Wealstun Prison in West Yorkshire on 7 December. He had to sign the sex offenders' register as part of the conditions of release. All he said in public on his release was, "I am pleased to be going home but there will be no celebrations until my name is cleared." He also repeated allegations of a conspiracy, claiming police had been told by a businessman in the West Midlands three months before his arrest that he had paid £5,000 to a woman to "set Owen up". He also unsuccessfully appealed to the European court for his conviction to be overturned.^[12][20].

In the twelve months after his release, he was not seen in public, and became a recluse in his home at Claughton Hall, Claughton, Lancaster home.^[21] On 29 June 2001 Oyston spoke publicly for the first time since his release he vowed to fight to clear his name, saying "The fact that the media haven’t caught up with me until now doesn’t mean I have been hiding. I’m still fighting to clear my name. Shortly a judgement will be made in Europe about my case. I won’t stop fighting to clear my name. I will eventually."^[22] The appeal was rejected by the European Court of Human Rights on 22 January 2002 as "manifestly ill-founded". They ruled that it was a fair hearing and that fresh evidence adduced by Oyston in the rape case which was refused by the Court of Appeal was inadmissible. They stated that "there was no reason to reach a different conclusion in the present case."^[23]

[edit] Current career

Following his release, Oyston continued to operate his various businesses. He returned to estate agencies and to glossy magazines. He relaunched the Oyston's estate agency and revived two previously low-profile Ridings Publications titles, The Lancashire Magazine and The Yorkshire Magazine, with managers and journalists who previously worked with him on the "Life" series of county magazines. He still remains the majority shareholder at Blackpool F.C., and is still listed as a director. ^[24] He made his first public appearance at Bloomfield Road since his release, in February 2002 at the opening of two new stands at the stadium.^[25] He was also instrumental in the club bringing in Latvian businessman Valeri Belokon to invest into the club in 2006.^[26] In January 2007 Blackpool confirmed that Oyston would be overseeing their Gold Bond Lottery scheme in an advisory role, a scheme which he had originally helped to create.^[27]

Oyston was the subject of controversy again in 2007, when he was invited to a Labour Party fundraising event held by newly-appointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 12 July. A spokesman for Brown said, "Mr Brown did not meet Mr Oyston, nor was he aware of his presence in advance. Mr Brown has asked the general secretary of the Labour Party to investigate the circumstances, but he has already instructed him that any donation from Mr Oyston should not be accepted."^[28]

The Sunday Times Rich List, which annually lists the 2,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom has Oyston's wealth along with his son Karl at £105M making them the 759th richest in the country, down from 659th in 2007.^[1]

[edit] Personal life

Oyston married his wife, Vicky in 1964. They have two sons, one of whom, Karl is the current chairman of Blackpool F.C. The Oystons were divorced in 1982, but were remarried in 1988.^[3] On 13 June, 2008 a fire broke out at his 13th century country home Claughton Hall. The fire started in an outbuilding and more than twenty fire-fighters fought the blaze, which they said could have been far more serious had the alarm been raised later.^[29]

[edit] References

[edit] External links