We all know that Harry Redknapp is innocent of tax evasion. A jury has decided that unanimously.

But readers of The Times newspaper may have been a little surprised by the verdict. Redknapp had, after all, admitted criminality. Or so the paper reported on 28 January 2012. Quoting evidence given during the trial, the paper reported Redknapp as saying in a taped interview with the police:

“I’ve brought up a fantastic family to try and nick a few quid off the income tax.”

A whole family of tax-dodging Redknapps? Surely this can’t be right. Something must have been taken out of context. But no. Context doesn’t help. The full quote was:

“I’m not going to ruin my wife and my wife’s life and my boys’ lives. I’ve brought up a fantastic family to try and nick a few quid off the income tax.”

So the man most likely to be England’s next football manager believed that tax dodging was essential in order to avoid his and family’s life being ruined. And yet … And yet … it just doesn’t seem to fit with everything else in his evidence. What if we try that quote just once more, but this time with a change in the punctuation:

“I’m not going to ruin my wife and my wife’s life and my boys’ lives – I’ve brought up a fantastic family – to try and nick a few quid off the income tax.”

So there was criminality after all. Criminal mispunctuation by The Times.

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