Former Aston Villa striker John Carew jailed for tax evasion

The 43-year-old was ruled to have unintentionally failed to disclose his income by Oslo district court and also hit with a fine of £45,300, in addition to a prison sentence.

Carew avoided a longer jail term after the court decided he had not acted intentionally.

The former Norway international had already pleaded guilty to fraud charges brought against him by the tax authorities but maintained throughout he had not acted deliberately.

His defence attorney, Berit Reiss-Andersen, told reporters: “The court has concluded he has acted grossly negligently, but not with intent.

“We have claimed this all along and Carew has been clear he wanted to make amends.”

A towering centre-forward, Carew joined Villa from Lyon in January 2007 in a swap deal which saw Milan Baros go the other way.

He went on to score 52 goals in 134 appearances in all competitions as Villa recorded three consecutive sixth-placed finishes in the Premier League under Martin O’Neill, establishing himself as a firm fans’ favourite before leaving in the summer of 2011.

Carew remained a popular figure and sat alongside Prince William at Wembley when Villa won promotion back to the Premier League through the play-offs in 2019.

He also played 91 times for Norway in a career which took in stops at Valencia, Roma and Besiktas.