and two of his brothers must pay nearly £100,000 after a judge ruled they were liable for unpaid business rates.
The World heavyweight boxing champion, 35, and his siblings Shane and John were taken to court by Cheshire East Council over non-payment of business rates since 2021.
None of the trio attended a hearing on Tuesday at Chester Magistrates’ Court to settle the dispute but their father, John Fury Snr, gave evidence to say he had previously transferred his ownership of the site at Moss Lane to them.
The council argued there was an unpaid tax bill because the land they owned in Styal, Chesire was being used as a business as it had been turned into a car park.
However, the unpaid sum was disputed by the Furys’ representatives who said they were not liable because they rented out the land to another party.
On Tuesday, the court heard how Fury Snr rented a storage yard, said to be ‘a stone’s throw away’ from Airport, for £600 per month to Babakir Elmosbah, who said he was director of a firm which used the site for a valet parking service to and from the airport.
However, District Judge John McGarva said the respondents – the Fury brothers – had ‘not got anywhere near establishing a prima facie case’ that the company, Holiday Car Parks Manchester Ltd, were in actual occupation of the premises.
McGarva ordered the Furys to pay the business rates bill of £82,166.85, together with the council’s court costs of £17,206.
Fury Snr told the court he had placed ownership of the land into a trust fund for his three sons to take over when they turned 21.
He admitted though that his signature was on a commercial lease agreement with Holiday Car Parks Manchester Ltd.
The father-of-six said he was dyslexic, could not read or write, and that a trusted adviser who was ‘a lot more educated than me’ had assisted him in all business dealings.
Fury Snr said: ‘All I have done is rent a piece of land out to this gentleman [Mr Elmosbah]. I don’t have any understanding of what business they do.
‘I’m an old-fashioned man and I’m semi-literate. That’s how it is.’
Asked why he had signed the form when his sons were the registered landowners, he said he came from a ‘different culture’ and that ‘I’m still the man of that land.’
Fury Snr went on: ‘They have nothing to do with it. I’m a boxing coach, I’m a boxing trainer. I have no understanding at all. The only trouble I have been in is criminal, not the technical stuff. It’s not my field. I try to keep away from paperwork.’
He said he had not been told to attend Tuesday’s hearing but wanted to explain why his sons were registered as the landowners.
Fury Snr said: ‘They had nothing to do with any of this. It’s ridiculous. Especially Tyson, when you are paying millions in tax every year. He has not lived here for 18 years.’
He left the court after he gave evidence and did not return to hear the judge’s ruling.
