'Addict' gambler on firearms charge

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Greyhound trainer Graham Calvert, 28, from Tyne and Wear, claims the bookmakers allowed him to place bets when he had twice asked them to close his account - a process known as "self-exclusion" - as he battled with gambling addiction.

A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said Mr Calvert is currently on bail awaiting trial.

"Graham Calvert, 28, of Sedgeletch Road, Sedgeletch, in Houghton has been charged with firearms offences and associated drugs offences and is scheduled to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on a date to be fixed," she said.

Mr Calvert wants William Hill to pay back the £2.1 million in losses he accrued between June and December 2006 on the grounds that they failed in their "duty of care".

During that period he alleges the bookies allowed him to open two new accounts and to make bets totalling around £3.5 million.

He lost around £347,000 on one bet alone when he backed the USA to win the 2006 Ryder Cup.

His solicitors, Newcastle-based Ward Hadaway, say the case is a crucial test of the betting industry's social responsibility policies.

"It goes to the issue of how bookmakers treat people who have gambling problems via their self-exclusion policy and whether they can be held responsible when they advertise themselves as offering self exclusion and promoting socially-responsible gambling," said lawyer Peter Hornsey.

William Hill will defend the case "vigorously".