People: Terry Marsh acquitted of student grant fraud

Terry Marsh, the former champion boxer, emerged triumphant from a criminal trial for the second time yesterday and promptly invited the jury out for a celebratory drink.

Mr Marsh, 39, was acquitted at Southwark Crown Court of making a fraudulent application for a university grant. The jury took just 15 minutes to clear him of furnishing false information to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Mr Marsh, who stood down as a Liberal Democrat candidate because of the charges, said that he intended to report the council to the local government ombudsman. "There could be a civil action as regards a breach of confidentiality," he said.

In 1990, Mr Marsh was cleared of attempting to murder his former promoter, Frank Warren. He began studying for his first degree while in prison on remand.

At this week's trial, the prosecution argued that Mr Marsh deliberately omitted from his application form the fact that he had received a grant for the earlier degree from Essex Council. But he told the jury that he had believed that he was entitled to the second grant of pounds 9,428. When he realised his mistake, he contacted the authority to point it out and asked to take a Higher National Diploma instead.