A MAN who sold a Manchester United Football shirt carrying a forged signature of England captain David Beckham has been warned that he faces a possible jail sentence.

Mark Pullen, 33, advertised the shirt on the internet auction site eBay, along with a fake letter of authenticity, Bournemouth magistrates heard.

The seller described the shirt as "personally hand-signed by David Beckham", "a very collectable piece", and having a "beautiful-looking signature".

Ivan Hancock, prosecuting for Dorset Trading Standards, told the court that following a complaint from Manchester United Football Club in December 2002, a member of Trading Standards registered with eBay and found the shirt on sale for £139 plus £2 postage and packaging.

He paid by credit card and received the shirt and letter of authenticity on January 6 2003. Both were sent to the club, which pronounced them fake.

The seller was identified as Pullen, who was running a company called Soccer Auctions from his home in Markham Close, Northbourne, Bournemouth.

Pullen, now living in Portugal, pleaded guilty to supplying a signed Manchester United shirt to which a false description had been applied; and selling a letter and football shirt with a logo likely to be mistaken for a registered trade mark.

Mr Hancock applied for the forfeiture of other items seized from Pullen's house and for costs of £1,485. The court heard that Pullen has previous convictions for deception.

Todd Twine, representing Pullen, said the goods were of relatively low value and said no member of the public had incurred any loss for the sale of the shirt.

Magistrates remanded Pullen on bail until October 13 for sentence, on condition he stays at an address in Southey Road, Christchurch.

After the hearing, Mr Hancock said items seized from Pullen's premises showed he had documents for items purporting to be signed by other sports stars including Muhammed Ali, Pele, the Barcelona and Liverpool football teams and England rugby player Jason Robinson.

"Sport memorabilia has become quite a big thing with computer auctions, and as with all auctions a lot of trust has to go into things. That's why the courts obviously take this so seriously," he said.

"This is basically forgery. The best evidence would have been a statement from David Beckham. If Pullen had pleaded not guilty, Beckham would have had to come to court, so we focused the offence on Manchester United's evidence."

First published: Sept 25