Redknapp loses cool as he shouts at policeman during trial
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Spurs coping without Redknapp
Tottenham have been without their manager Harry Redknapp during training this week, as he defends charges in court of cheating the public revenue.
Harry Redknapp shouted at a City of London police detective for "staring" at him during heated court scenes yesterday.
The Tottenham Hotspur manager held his hands up and looked around at Detective Inspector Dave Manley midway through questioning.
Mr Redknapp said: "Mr Manley, will you please stop staring at me. I know you are trying to cause me a problem, okay."
Mr Redknapp then turned to Judge Anthony Leonard to apologise for the interruption.
Mr Redknapp (64) and Milan Mandaric (73) deny two counts of cheating the public revenue at Southwark Crown Court.
Earlier Mr Redknapp said his wife thought he had been killed in a plane crash when police raided the couple's luxury home.
Officers swooped on Mr Redknapp's house in Sandbanks, Dorset, after the football boss was arrested in 2007.
When she looked out her window she saw the flashing bulbs of press photographers, jurors heard.
Mr Redknapp said he was not at home as he had been travelling back from a European match in Germany. "My wife thought I had probably been killed in a plane crash," Mr Redknapp told jurors.
His barrister, John Kelsey-Fry, said a complaint was made that 'The Sun' newspaper was tipped off about the raid.
Both Mr Redknapp and Mr Mandaric deny evading tax after £189,000 (€227,000) was paid into a Monaco bank account.
Mr Redknapp told jurors he was more interested in David Beckham than dealing with his Monaco bank account.
He also told the court he wrote the account off when Mr Mandaric told him it was a "disaster".
He added that he "didn't know anything about the account, never went near it", and insisted: "I have always paid my taxes . . . I have always paid too much tax rather than not enough."
The Tottenham Hotspur manager said he hired the best accountants in London to keep his books.
When asked about his relationship with Mr Mandaric, Mr Redknapp said they hit it off within an hour of meeting.
Volatile
"There was no one in the world I would rather be with. We had our ups and downs, I was a bit volatile perhaps."
But he added: "There's no one else I would rather go to dinner with, even now. I love his company."
Mr Redknapp told the court his only previous charge was for speeding.
As Mr Kelsey-Fry began his questioning, Mr Redknapp confirmed he had received a £300,000 (€361,000) gift from West Ham United for the sale of Rio Ferdinand to Leeds United.
In heated exchanges with former Portsmouth FC chairman Mr Mandaric, prosecution counsel John Black said the tax dodge was "all about Mr Redknapp and he was greedy and wanted more money".
The barrister asked Mr Mandaric: "That's the truth isn't it?"
Mr Mandaric, standing in the box, replied: "Absolutely not true."
- Tom Morgan in London
Irish Independent
