Reds' owner Patrick Cryne headed up an IT firm which 'cooked the books' to bury bad news and hoodwink investors, a court was told.

The 62-year-old Barnsley FC owner, together with colleagues Stephen Graham, 49, Timothy Whiston, 45, and John Whelan, 46, allegedly spun a web of lies in the published accounts of healthcare software provider, iSoft.

All four deny charges of conspiracy to make misleading statements or forecasts.

On Wednesday, Southwark Crown Court was told the plot was 'hatched in a smoke-filled room' and enabled Cryne, the firm's chief executive, and his director of operations, Graham, to become multimillionaires when they sold their shares.

Finance director Whiston, and group financial controller Whelan, were also highly paid and expected to net an annual bonus based on the company's apparent success, jurors were told.

Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, said the four men had deliberately included revenue from software contracts which had yet to be received in their published accounts, transforming a 'thumping loss' into a 'highly respectable profit'.

Mr Latham said: "This case is an allegation that these defendants were telling lies to then public about the financial health of their company.

"In other words, burying bad news. The lies were contained in its accounts, published to the world. The accounts or books were, in effect, cooked."

Mr Latham said the plot was the result of a combination of 'arrogance, ambition, pride and greed' and alleged the conspiracy 'lasted for months and turned into years'.

He added Cryne as the 'guru' of ISoft with the biggest financial stake in the company.