A RUNCORN man who stole more than £7,000 from the community centre where he worked has avoided jail.

David Jones, of Granby Close, abused his job as a part-time finance administrator at Beechwood Community Centre, on Beechwood Avenue, to make 31 refunds to his own bank account between July 23, 2022, and March 4, 2023.

The 57-year-old, who is a qualified accountant, was responsible for taking and refunding payments, balancing the accounts and producing finance reports.

He submitted a series of false monthly reports to cover his tracks.

His bosses found out when the bank alerted them after a suspicious £500 refund was made to a debit card.

When asked whether the transaction was to his own bank account, he told his boss: "I don’t know," and then he phoned in sick the next day.

The centre's business manager was able to determine it was to Jones' account by comparing it to legitimate transactions he had made using his own account.

After a full review of its finances, the centre discovered Jones had defrauded it of £7,470.01.

He was summoned to a disciplinary meeting though failed to show up, but attended a later meeting via Zoom, when he came clean and was dismissed. 

He was interview by police on August 11, telling them he had been ‘struggling to make ends meet’ on his £18,000 salary.

Jones appeared at Chester Chester Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to one count of fraud by false representation at a previous hearing.

He appeared in court without legal representation, but when questioned by judge Michael Leeming, he said he ‘felt like he had come to the end of the road’ financially, after his debts had ‘snowballed’, and he ‘could not see anywhere to turn’.

Jones added: “I was too ashamed and embarrassed to speak to anyone. I am supposed to be good with money. It was my job.

“I went into a downward spiral, and I did not realise there were options I had.

"I wish I had been able to see that clearly in my own head at the time, but I was afraid of ridicule.”

Judge Leeming asked Jones what his wife thought of all this, but he said she did not know.

The judge, stunned, said: “If you are given a custodial sentence today, the first your wife will hear about it is either when you phone her from prison, or when she reads about you in the local paper?”

Jones replied: "Yes."

Passing sentence, Judge Leeming said Jones committed a ‘sophisticated offence’ which ‘involved an abuse of a position of trust in order to hide his dishonesty’.  

He added as the charity had not provided a business impact statement, the court was not able to determine the harm his crime had caused.

Jones was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

He must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months.

In addition, judge Leeming ordered a Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings to begin to determine how much of his ill-gotten gains he will need to repay, with a first hearing set for April 17.

“You should not be allowed to profit from your dishonesty”, he said.  

A spokesman for Beechwood Community Centre said: "Mr Jones was our employee for over seven years and had worked his way into a position of trust as a financial administrator. 

"Unfortunately, this trust was abused, a series of discrepancies were exposed and he was immediately suspended. 

"Following a disciplinary hearing, Mr Jones was dismissed and the details of the fraud were reported to police."