August 18 Update: 

Dean Richards has been banned from any involvement in the Heineken Cup for three years after being found guilty of organising the fabrication of a blood injury and a subsequent cover-up when he was director of rugby at Harlequins.

The former England forward resigned earlier this month after an independent European Rugby Cup (ERC) panel decided the team had staged an injury to winger Tom Williams during their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster in April.

The injury had allowed specialist goalkicker Nick Evans back on the field near the end of their 6-5 defeat to Leinster.

In the ERC's July ruling, Mr Williams and Mr Richards were both suspended for a year, but a more serious charge of misconduct against the former rugby director was thrown out.

An appeals committee, however, had subsequently found Mr Richards guilty of misconduct after hearing new evidence from Mr Williams, the ERC said in a statement late yesterday.

"(An independent appeals) committee (has) imposed a suspension of three years on Mr Richards from participating in any capacity in ERC (European Rugby Cup) tournaments and will be requesting other tournaments and governing bodies give effect to this suspension in their tournaments," the ERC said in a news release.

"The ERC ... found Mr Richards was guilty of misconduct in that he organised the fabrication of a wound or blood injury. Mr Richards acknowledged he had orchestrated the subsequent cover up of the incident."

Mr Williams had explained how Mr Richards and Quins physiotherapist Steph Brennan had organised the fabrication of the injury "as well as disclosing full details of the steps taken by those involved to cover up what had happened in the period following the match," the ERC added.

Ms Brennan was also found guilty of misconduct and was banned for two years, while the club had an initial fine of €250,000 with half suspended raised to €300,000 to be paid in full.

The hearings had also found that Mr Richards and Ms Brennan had fabricated a wound or a blood injury on four previous occasions in non-ERC tournaments.

"Details of these incidents will be passed on to the relevant tournaments organiser," the statement added.

Mr Williams' ban was reduced to four months.

Mr Richards, a former England No. 8, led the Quins to second place in the English Premiership last year.

Following his resignation, Quins launched an internal review and said it would establish an appropriate ethics code.

"Whilst the club are pleased that Tom Williams' ban has been reduced, we feel this is a very significant penalty in terms of fine," a Harlequins statement read.

"We will now continue with our internal review into all aspects of the business to ensure that we have the most stringent compliance and robust policies and processes in place throughout the club and work towards rebuilding our reputation on and off the field.

"We hope that the club can now draw a line under what has been a difficult few months, learn from it and move on."