Trusted golf pro denies he pocketed charity cash
THE top professional golfer at a prestigious club founded more than 100 years ago stole more than £45,000 in green fees and “pocketed” money raised for charity, a court has heard.
Steven Hunter was the senior pro at Royal Winchester Golf Club in Hampshire – which was established in 1888 and whose membership fees are £1,300 a year – when he allegedly underdeclared fees paid by visitors to play there and kept the difference.
He was caught out after staff discovered “consistent” discrepancies that amounted to more than £45,000 over a period of almost two years.
They found that while more than £11,000 from two charity golf days was paid into Mr Hunter’s bank account, less than £50 of the money was donated to charity, it was alleged yesterday.
Tom Nicholson, prosecuting, told a jury at Salisbury Crown Court that Mr Hunter had been working at the club since the late 1980s and ran the club’s shop through his business, Steven Hunter Golf Shops Limited.
However, concerns were not raised until July 2018 when Stuart Dubber, Royal Winchester’s manager, noticed that although the club should have received £3,710 in green fees the previous month, Mr Hunter had declared only £1,075.
Mr Nicholson said: “He consistently under-reported the green fees paid by visitors to the Royal Winchester Golf Club, keeping the difference when his contract said it was the club’s money.
“He took advantage of the trust he had built up, trust he earned as a longstanding member of the club.”
The court heard that the sole visitor book that could be found dated back to September 2016 and that club officials who cross-referenced the club’s accounts with it found there had been an underpayment of £44,174 in the period to July 2018.
The money was paid back to the Royal Winchester, but when Mr Hunter refused to let the club see his accounts it notified the police.
Mr Hunter told officers that a “clerical error” had led to the under reporting of green fees.
Mr Nicholson claimed that Mr Hunter had “simply pocketed” the money raised by two charity golf days set up in the memory of long-standing member Les Day, who died in 2014.
The 54-year-old has also been charged with three further counts of fraud relating to income tax, VAT and misrepresenting his annual salary in order to remortgage his £1.6million home.
Mr Hunter, of Abbots Worthy, near Winchester, denies five counts of fraud. The trial continues.