Banned Lee says 'I'm innocent'

Snooker player Stephen Lee says he is innocent of match-fixing charges and will appeal against his 12-year ban. The 38-year-old was given the longest suspension in the sport's history on Wednesday after being found guilty of fixing the outcome in seven games. $render("advert","advert-companion","24213852"); $render("advert-post-script-load"); The snooker match Lee fixed require( ["sportui/empswitch"], function(empswitch) { empswitch.init(); } ); "I'm absolutely devastated. I'e done nothing wrong," the former world number five told BBC Points West. "I'm totally innocent of this and I will be making a public statement later on. I've just seen my lawyer." Lee, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, was banned and ordered to pay £40,000 costs on Wednesday following an independent tribunal hearing earlier in September. He added: "It's just absolutely outrageous. I am absolutely devastated at what's happened here. "I'm going to be with a QC on Friday morning and we are going to look at the whole picture and start making some big holes. They've got no facts." And Lee says his snooker career will effectively be finished forever if the full term of his ban is upheld. The ban will run from 12 October 2012, when an interim suspension was imposed, and means Lee will not be able to compete as a professional snooker player before 12 October 2024, the date of his 50th birthday.