James Hywel Thomas, 42, from Gresford, Wrexham, is due to be sentenced on Friday morning for three counts of fraud. He is pictured outside Wrexham Magistrates Court in January
A MasterChef contestant on tonight’s episode could watch himself cook on the show from behind bars after admitting he sold fake sports tickets in a fraud worth £65,000.
James Hywel Thomas, 42, from Gresford, Wrexham, is due to be sentenced on Friday morning for three counts of fraud.
Thomas, the former boss of the North Wales Crusaders rugby league side, offered tickets for sports events that didn’t exist.
The BBC said it is aware of Thomas’ crimes, but that the filming took place ‘some time ago’.
Earlier this month Mold Crown Court heard Thomas admitted to abusing his position to obtain a Mercedes car, forging signatures and pulling off an £800 credit card fiddle by claiming he was permitted to use a woman’s credit cards.
The offences took place between February 2015 and June 2017.
Judge Peter Heywood adjourned sentencing for a pre-sentence report and granted bail until he is sentenced.
Today, TV bosses confirmed that aspiring cook Mr Thomas will be one of seven contestants in the latest episode of MasterChef.
Although they did not give any details about what he’ll be cooking, Louise Plank, of Plank PR who handle the programme’s publicity, said: ‘Yes, Jamie will be in the programme.’
She confirmed that Mr Thomas’ fraud had been brought to their attention adding that filming ‘was some time ago’.
She said: ‘We do background checks on everyone. There was no cause for concern in any of those checks. This wasn’t an issue.’
Thomas, the former boss of the North Wales Crusaders rugby league side, offered tickets for sports events that didn’t exist. He is seen on the left with his MasterChef colleagues in an undated file photo
A BBC MasterChef spokesperson added: ‘We always complete the required background checks on all our MasterChef contestants and at the time of filming, Jamie (sic) Thomas passed all the necessary checks.’
The Crusaders, who were once in the Super League, now play in the third tier of the rugby league pyramid.
Mr Thomas is due to be sentenced by Judge Heywood at Caernarfon Crown Court.