Trusted treasurer stole almost £45k from boat club

THE trusted treasurer of a popular boat club raided the coffers and helped himself to tens of thousands of pounds of its money, a court has heard.

Christopher Philips secretly applied for large loans for the club and, when they were paid, he simply transferred the money into his own account. He then altered bank statements to try to cover his tracks.

In total the 57-year-old stole almost £45,000 from Port Talbot’s Afan Boat Club and would later claim he was only “protecting” the money by putting it in his name.

Philips, of Brookside Close, Baglan, Port Talbot, had previously been convicted at trial of three counts of fraud by false representation at Swansea Crown Court when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

He has no previous convictions. The trial heard that, as treasurer of the boat club, the defendant was responsible for paying bills and looking after its single bank account, which was held with HSBC. Any cheques required two signatures, but given Philips’ trusted position he was provided with a number of blank cheques which had already been signed by his co-signee.

Ashanti-Jade Walton, prosecuting, said without telling anyone else on the committee Philips secretly applied for £35,000 in Covid-19 loans for the club. Within days of the loan being paid into the club’s account the defendant wrote himself a cheque for the same amount – but the cheque was rejected because it only had one signature. A couple of days later the defendant successfully cashed in another cheque, this time for £39,873.72, which correctly carried both signatures. Philips then doctored the club’s bank statements to hide his tracks and to disguise the presence of the Covid loan. The court heard he also paid himself another £4,929.57 from club funds but altered documents to make it look like the transaction had been a standing order payment for just over £400 to Associated British Ports.

The court heard the stolen money has now been returned to the club.

Robin Rouch, for Philips, said his client was now effectively a full-time carer for his adult son along with his wife.

Judge Wayne Beard sentenced Philips to two years in prison suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to abide by a nightly curfew for the next four months and to pay £4,040 in prosecution costs.