Disgraced top jockey sent from Hong Kong to Australian jail

Sep 25, 2007, 2:28 GMT

Hong Kong - A champion Australian jockey was Tuesday flying from Hong Kong to Sydney to serve out the remainder of a 30-month jail term for selling racing tips.

Former Melbourne Cup winner Chris Munce, 37, one of Australia's best known jockeys, was jailed in Hong Kong in March after being charged with accepting bribes in return for tips on the outcome of races.

After serving six months in a Hong Kong prison, he was taken to the territory's Chek Lap Kok airport late Monday ready for a flight to Sydney Tuesday morning.

Munce, who raced for one season in Hong Kong, will serve out his sentence at Silverwater jail in Sydney under a prisoner exchange agreement that exists between the former British colony and Australia.

Munce, winner of the 1998 Melbourne Cup, was found to have received tens of thousands of US dollars in winnings in return for insider tips on races between December 2005 and July 2006.

When he was arrested with a businessman in a hotel in Hong Kong in July last year, he was found to be carrying around 32,000 US dollars and a piece of paper bearing some numbers and letters.

The jockey, who had just completed a contract in Hong Kong and was due to return to Sydney that month, claimed the money was a farewell gift from the businessman.