Club treasurer stole £37k to pay his bills

The treasurer of a Black Country club who plundered £37,000 from its funds to pay his bills has been spared an immediate jail term.

Trained accountant David Crowley left the private Shenstone Club in Halesowen on the brink of financial ruin with just £31 in a bank account that had held £79,000 when he was appointed to the post four years earlier, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Crowley, also a former president of the club, shelled out £1,600 of the stolen money on a holiday and spent £4,000 paying off a loan on his car, while a further £3,000 went settling his mobile phone bill.

More cash stolen from the club was used to pay off his mortgage arrears and a loan. He even took £121 to renew his TV licence.

Yesterday the 65-year-old received a 51 week prison sentence suspended under supervision for two years along with a 12 week curfew from 7pm to 7am.

Prosecutor Mr David Lees revealed: "The club has only just survived by taking further loans on a small scale from members and being helped out by the brewery and the bank. There was a £79,000 balance in their account when he took over as treasurer but the balance stood at just £31.04p by the time he left four years later."

Suspicion was first aroused by the delay in him providing accounts for the Annual General Meeting.

This led to an internal investigation that culminated in Crowley admitting to the club committee that he had been helping himself to its funds for years.

The treasurer had been entitled to a small salary for his work but felt he deserved more, the court heard.

Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said: "His world was falling down around his ears. His business had collapsed and now his house has been repossessed.

"He has lost all that he holds dear, his good name and reputation."

Crowley from Milestone Croft, Colley Gate, admitted nine counts of theft involving £37,000 between March 2005 and April 2008.

Recorder Miss Lynn Tayton QC said: "This club placed a high degree of trust in you but in return you took everything from it."