A man who was at the helm of a Medway crime reduction partnership has today been jailed for 12 weeks for stealing thousands of pounds from the organisation.

Christopher Griffiths - who arrived at Medway Magistrates' Court holding his wife's hand - used to be co-ordinator of the Safer Medway Partnership.

The 61-year-old, pictured right, pleaded guilty to five counts of theft by an employee.

Griffiths took the money between December 2009 and September 2012 to feed his gambling habit.

He stole a total of £4,078 after cheques were given to him for membership fees to the scheme by businesses in the Towns.

Griffiths resigned last year when he realised the thefts would come to light.

One of the cheques had been given to him by group chairman Aaron Stone to pay several suppliers in the Towns.

But Griffiths, of Fir Tree Grove, Chatham, wrote the cheques out to himself and put them in his own bank account.

The partnership was put together by businesses for businesses and links them via radio to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.

Griffiths was the only paid employee of the organisation and took over the role of co-ordinator when he left Maidsafe, a Maidstone-based initiative that also aims to reduce crime and disorder.

When he joined the Safer Medway Partnership in 2007, he was trusted by the other members as he had 27 years' experience in the security business and also served in the Royal Engineers for seven years.

Christopher Griffiths and his wife arrive at Medway Magistrates' Court

During his court appearance, magistrates were told he took the money to feed his gambling addition and had kept the deception from his wife, who was in court to see him jailed.

Luke Meyer, defending, said: "He has sent a cheque to the partnership for the full figure along with a letter of apology.

"He is very remorseful - he's had a colossal fall from grace.

"He's been struggling with his addiction to gambling, which he shielded from his wife. He feels he has let her and everyone else down.”

Magistrates jailed Griffiths for 84 days - or 12 weeks - for each offence to run concurrently.

Chairman of the bench, Leslie Watson, said: "You had a high degree of trust and you breached that trust over a long period of time."