Profile of Lee Hughes on Famous Like Me

Lee Hughes (born in Smethwick, West Midlands, May 22, 1976) is an English footballer.

On leaving Bristnall Hall High School, Oldbury in 1992 he signed for Kidderminster Harriers and played for them in the GM Vauxhall Conference, as well as having a part-time job as a roofer. He scored 35 goals in Kidderminster's 1996-97 GM Vauxhall Conference campaign but they were beaten to promotion into the Football League by Macclesfield Town. Hughes was then sold to West Bromwich Albion for £200,000 - the record fee paid for a non-league player. He described it as a 'dream come true', being a lifelong supporter of the club.

Hughes was a key player in the Albion side of the late 1990's and turn of the 21st century, scoring 31 Division One goals in the 1998-99 season - more than any other player in the Football League or the Premier League. But he was unable to get Albion into the Premiership and was sold to Coventry City for £5million in the summer of 2001. City had just been relegated from the Premiership after 34 years of top division football and Hughes was seen as the man to help fire the club back into the Premiership. But City narrowly missed out on the playoffs while Hughes's former club Albion were promoted to the Premiership. He soon returned to Albion for £2.5million - half the fee Albion had received for him a year earlier. Despite being a regular first team player, Hughes was unable to score a single Premiership goal in 2002-03 and Albion were relegated in 19th place with just 6 wins and 26 points from 38 matches.

During the 2003-04 season, Lee Hughes was involved in a car crash in which his Mercedes CL500 was involved in a collision with a Renault Scenic near the Warwickshire village of Meriden. Hughes and his passenger fled the car before turning themselves in to the police the following day. Hughes was charged with causing death by dangerous driving (a passenger in the Renault had died) and released on police bail, allowed him to complete Albion's Division One campaign and gain them promotion to the Premiership with Hughes being the club's leading league goalscorer on 13 goals.

On 9th August 2004, Lee Hughes was found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of Douglas Graham, as well as being convicted of leaving the scene of an accident. The judge criticised Hughes for having a 'callous disregard' for the four occupants of the Renault and he was sentenced to six years imprisonment as well as being banned from driving for ten years. He is currently awaiting an appeal for his sentence to be reduced and is currently being held at low security Featherstone Prison near Wolverhampton. The current six-year sentence means that Hughes will be released halfway through his sentence (in August 2007) by which time he will be 31 years old. His chances of playing Premiership football again are looking very slim.

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