Two conmen who forged and sold the autographs of some of Britain’s biggest sports stars were jailed yesterday.

Graeme Walker, 45, was sentenced to 30 months and his supplier, Faisal Madani, was given a nine-month term after a trial that heard from witnesses including the footballers Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard and the rugby player Jonny Wilkinson.

Chester Crown Court was told that forgeries found included signed photographs of Wilkinson’s World Cup-winning drop-kick and poor replicas of England international caps.

Signatures of Wilkinson, David Beckham, Gerrard, Owen and Sir Alex Ferguson had been “systematically” forged. They were sold by Walker, who ran the Sporting Icons store in Chester, and were supplied by Madani. Trading standards officers who raided the shop found evidence of attempts at falsifying stars’ signatures. Officers bought or seized a total of 197 items that the prosecution claimed were forgeries.

Judge David Hale told Walker: “The whole business of sporting memorabilia which has sprung up in recent years relies on honesty and authenticity. I accept you didn’t start the business to perpetrate the fraud but when the opportunity arose, you took the chance.”

Walker was jailed for 30 months for the main count on his indictment, fraudulent trading. He was also jailed for 12 months concurrently for each of 34 convictions under the Trade Descriptions Act and four months concurrently for each of 12 convictions under the Trademarks Act. Madani was jailed for nine months for each of 18 convictions for supplying Walker, to serve concurrently.

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