Former soccer club boss Azwar Majeed has been jailed for sending a lookalike to do his community service.

The Porsche-driving ex-chairman of Crawley Town Football Club was locked up for 11 months.

He let a flunky carry out unpaid work for him after being convicted of assault in 2005, a court heard.

Danny Ullah did seven sessions of gardening and weeding supervised by probation officers before the plot was rumbled.

Jailing the shamed millionaire yesterday Judge Cedric Joseph told Majeed: "You and nobody else will go to prison to serve that sentence for you."

Hove Crown Court was told how Majeed believed the 60 hours of work was "beneath him".

He was "too busy" running his businesses including the Ja Vu bar in Brighton and the Ja Ja bar in Crawley.

He and Ullah, who both have shaved heads and are of Asian appearance, swapped identities after Majeed told probation staff he was moving to Robinson House, Crawley.

Richard Barton, prosecuting, said the con came to light after an anonymous tip-off to the probation service in September 2005 .

Probation staff realised they had been tricked after they checked pictures they had taken of the man they thought was Majeed doing the work and and discovered it was not him.

By that time Ullah had done most of Majeed's unpaid community work for him, the court heard.

Majeed, 32, of Dyke Road, Brighton, and Ullah, 30, of Seaview Avenue, Peacehaven, both admitted trying to pervert the course of justice.

Majeed later tried to wriggle out of the charge by saying police had told him he would not be prosecuted.

He also claimed that he was not aware at first that Ullah was doing the work for him.

Ian Bridge, defending, said Majeed's conviction for assault involved an incident outside one of his nightclubs.

He had gone to protect Ullah who then felt responsible for getting Majeed into trouble.

Mr Bridge said Ullah had tried to repay him by doing the unpaid work without Majeed knowing.

He added: "When it came to Mr Majeed's attention he concedes that rather than stopping the situation as he should have done he allowed it to continue."

Nicholas Hamblin said Ullah: "Took it on himself to carry out the punishment of someone who had protected him.

"He discovered the letter from probation at Majeed's address in Crawley and took it on himself to do the work.

"One can see a degree of misguided loyalty for what he did. His guilty plea is his best apology that he acknowledges what he did was wrong."

Majeed was jailed for 11 months and ordered to pay £1,500 prosecution costs. Ullah was given three months.

Judge Cedric Joseph said both men had "made a mockery" of the court order for Majeed to do unpaid community work.

He told Majeed: "I have heard about your business interests.

"I have no doubt that you just thought it was beneath your dignity to do unpaid work.

"You pleaded guilty and then wriggled and wriggled to try to get out of that plea, but you cannot buy yourself out of serving your sentence.

"You and nobody else will go to prison to serve that sentence for you.

"Ullah, you went along with the deception on Majeed's behalf, although you did plead guilty from the start.

"I have no doubt that you received some reward from him for doing the community work."

A Sussex Probation spokeswoman said police were alerted as soon as it was discovered they had been duped.

She added: "Probation staff who assess offenders are no always the same as the officers who supervise offenders when they complete their hours.

"As soon as we found out that it was not Majeed who was completing his hours we immediately suspended him and contacted the police.

"This is the first case of this happening within the Sussex probation area.

"We have since reviewed our offender induction process to reduce the risk of this reoccurring.

"We are always vigilant and will always pass on information about such instances to the police.

"The sentences passed today will also reinforce how seriously such deception is viewed."