Tyson Fury tax bill: Boxing champion and brothers ordered to pay £100,000 over unpaid business rates in Cheshire

Boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and two of his brothers have been ordered to pay nearly £100,000 in unpaid business rates.

It comes after Cheshire East Council took the fighter and his siblings, Shane and John, to court for not paying the taxes since April 2021 on land they owned in Styal, Cheshire.

None of the brothers attended the hearing to settle the dispute at Chester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

But their father, John Fury, did give evidence – and confirmed he had previously transferred his ownership of the Moss Lane site to them.

The court heard he rented a storage yard, said to be “a stone’s throw away” from Manchester Airport, for £600 per month to businessman Babakir Elmosbah – who said he was the director of a valet parking service firm which used the site for airport customers.

However, District Judge John McGarva said the Fury brothers had “not got anywhere near establishing a prima facie case” that the company, Holiday Car Parks Manchester Ltd, actually occupied the premises.

He ordered the siblings to pay the business rates bill of £82,166.85, plus the council’s court costs of £17,206.

‘I try to keep away from paperwork’

Mr Fury Snr earlier told the court he placed ownership of the land into a trust fund for his sons to take over when they turned 21, although he admitted it was his signature on the paperwork for the commercial lease agreement with Mr Elmosbah’s firm.

He told the court he was dyslexic, as well as being unable to read or write, and said a trusted adviser who was “a lot more educated than me” had helped him with his business dealings.

Mr Fury Snr said: “All I have done is rent a piece of land out to this gentleman [Mr Elmosbah]. I don’t have any understanding of what business they do.

“I’m an old-fashioned man and I’m semi-literate. That’s how it is.”

Asked why he had signed the form when his sons were the registered landowners, Mr Fury Snr said he was from a “different culture” and that “I’m still the man of that land”.

He added: “They have nothing to do with it. I’m a boxing coach, I’m a boxing trainer. I have no understanding at all.

“The only trouble I have been in is criminal, not the technical stuff. It’s not my field. I try to keep away from paperwork.”

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Case ‘ridiculous’ – ‘especially’ for Tyson

Mr Fury Snr said his sons had “nothing to do with any of this” and described the case as “ridiculous”.

He added: “Especially Tyson, when you are paying millions in tax every year. He has not lived here for 18 years.”

The boxer’s father left the court after giving evidence and was not present for the judge’s ruling.

Martin Budworth, representing the brothers, had argued the council had no positive case against his clients, other than that their names were recorded on the Land Register.

He said the suggestion that the car parking firm’s operation could be “discounted or disregarded as some sort of sham is a really bold proposition”.

Judge McGarva said the local authority did not dispute that Holiday Car Parks Manchester Ltd existed, but said Mr Elmosbah could not explain why it was listed as dormant in its accounts for the year ending August 2022.

It also had no employees during the period.

The judge described Mr Elmosbah as a “far from an impressive witness” and “not credible”.

He also said it was “wholly unsatisfactory” he had not heard from any of the brothers in person, or from Mr Fury Snr’s adviser.

The judge added the lease agreement “left more questions than answers,” including why Mr Fury Snr had agreed to lease a property he had “already disposed of”.