A pubgoer was jailed for four months after duping former Arsenal and Middlesex player Leslie Compton out of £20.

In his retirement from professional football and cricket, Mr Compton ran the Hanley Arms in Hornsey Road, Holloway.

Ernest Weldon, 32, of Cairns House, Holloway, went into the pub and told Mr Compton that he had been sent there by Hertslet Road greengrocer Stanley Moss – who was a regular customer at the pub – to collect £20 (the equivalent of £442 in today’s terms) for goods.

“I said I didn’t do that kind of kind of thing,” Mr Compton told Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, “but he pleaded a bit.” Mr Compton, who played for Arsenal for 22 years, relented.

But Mr Moss denied he ever asked him to collect the money on his behalf and Weldon never paid it back.

Father-of-two Weldon, who had four previous convictions, was found guilty of obtaining money under false pretences.

He eventually admitted he needed cash to purchase asphalt for a job, but knew he “would not get it otherwise”.