A long-standing working men’s club treasurer siphoned off more than £58,000 for himself over nearly four years, a court heard.

Roy Weston took the cash from lottery machines at the Rusthall club, fiddled the banking of cheques and raided a members’ Christmas fund, it was alleged.

At the start of the trial the jury of seven women and five men was told that the 70-year-old was suffering from cancer and receiving only palliative care.

Prosecutor Ian Foinette said when opening the facts at Maidstone Crown Court: “The defendant used his position as treasurer to take money from the club accounts and use it for himself.“

The club, he said, had two “lotto” machines call a Duo and an Uno. Weston, who became treasurer in 2005, was responsible for banking the cash from them.

He also handled cheques and money for the members’ “Thrift” Christmas Club.
Mr Foinette said it was discovered Weston was “on the fiddle”.

In 2013, a committee member realised there was an audit facility on the lottery machines and it was possible to tell how much money should have been in them.

The club’s financial arrangements were checked and on the figures provided by Weston it was running almost at a loss.

The club went into the red and it was given an overdraft of £8,500.

“Investigators were interested to find out what on earth was going on,” said Mr Foinette.
Weston claimed some of the money was due to him and also that he had subsidised the club for a while.

Mr Foinette said there was only £3,309 in the Thrift account when there should have been about £7,449.

When seen by police, Weston said he had retired five years previously but still had a mortgage of £800 a month. His wife had savings of about £29,000.

Officers looked at his financial affairs and saw that his income received over three tax years was equal to the amounts paid into his bank account.

But over that period he had also made mortgage payments of more than £31,000.

“You may think that the obvious conclusion is that he must have had an additional form of income,” said Mr Foinette.

Weston, of Fremlin Close, Rusthall, denies theft and two fraud charges.

The trial continues.