Former Manchester City footballer Natasha Harding accused of fraud

Natasha Harding, a former Manchester City and Wales national team star, is facing allegations of fraud involving payments for children’s training sessions that never took place, The Sun reports.

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Harding is accused of collecting payments from parents for one-on-one coaching sessions for young female footballers, but these sessions were allegedly not delivered. A total of 27 individuals claim to have been affected, each reportedly paying £1,200. The angry parents are now demanding compensation amounting to £45,000.

The matter has been reported to Gloucestershire and Gwent police, as well as to Action Fraud and the National Cyber Crime and Fraud Centre.

"I offer my apologies to those affected whose sessions I could not complete. This was unavoidable, and it was never the intention not to fulfil the sessions. Because of circumstances beyond my control, which was always made clear to parents, I had to cancel some sessions after initiating and completing others," Harding told The Sun.

The former footballer has also agreed to reimburse the parents for the undelivered sessions.