An ex-British boxing champion from Bellingham has been sentenced after being found guilty of fraud.

Anthony Small, formerly of Southend Lane, was handed 32 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years on Monday.

He was also ordered to complete 120 hours community service by a judge at the Old Bailey.

The 34-year-old was found guilty after he racked up thousands of pounds worth of parking fines after illegally parking a motorbike between 2010-2011.

The former British and Commonwealth light middleweight champion was found to have given false names to the DVLA in respect of the bike, a red BMW C1 motorbike.

He also produced fake insurance papers when retrieving a car, a Mazda, from the Charlton pound in 2012.

MORE TOP STORIES After a successful sporting career with 86 amateur, and 24 professional fights under his belt, small began trading in used cars for some extra income.

His defence hinged on his business associates, Tony Beckford, Gavin Andison, a man named Ricardo, being responsible.

During the trial Meyrick Williams, prosecuting, said while there may be a Tony Beckford, a Gavin Andison or Gavin Anderson "and even a Hans Christian Andersen", none were to be found at any of the addresses given.

This was the fourth time the fraud charges had gone to trial – on one previous occasion a jury failed to reach a verdict and two others were disrupted by his terror charges.

The jury in this trial were not informed he previously been cleared of terrorism offences.

News Shopper: Anthony Small, 33, denied trying to travel to Syria

Anthony Small

Muslim-convert Small previously stood trial accused of selling his old shorts and gloves to raise funds to join ISIS in Syria.

The court was told the father-of-one had a sword and an image of the UK covered by an ISIS flag in his home.

But after a two-month trial at the Old Bailey last year, he was found not guilty of disseminating terrorist publications, engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts.

During his defence for the fraud charges, Small, who also goes by the name Abdul-Haqq, claimed he was the victim of “systemic police harassment”.

Dubbed ‘The Islamist Boxer’, he was previously known to be living in a tent in Stoke-on-Trent.