AN ex-councillor who cheated a sports club out of up to £16,000 to finance his struggling fish and chip shop has been jailed for 10 months.

Richard Milner, who was Craven ward councillor in Barnoldswick on Pendle Council until he resigned earlier this year, rifled the funds of West Craven Warriors RLFC while acting as their chairman, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Club officials said he left the Pennine League outfit ‘penniless’ and facing a battle for its own survival after signing 14 cheques from the Warriors’ bank account over to his own.

Jailing him, Judge Mark Brown, Recorder of Preston, said: “Your position is one of a fall from grace.

“In many ways it represents some sort of tragedy to see a person such as you in a crown court dock facing sentence.”

Milner presented character references from his former party colleagues Cllr David Whipp and Cllr Ken Hartley and his current employers Stonegate, for whom he works as a kitchen manager at the Black Horse pub in Skipton.

And the court heard how he had been a leading figure in the West Craven town’s St George’s Day celebrations and a member of a number of community and voluntary groups.

But Judge Brown said that he had left the club ‘in a serious financial position’ and he had taken advantage of the club’s chaotic paperwork to carry out a three-year fraud and thefts.

The prosecution insisted he had taken £16,117 but the defendant maintained he had only taken £12,500 but the judge said the difference between the amounts would not affect his sentence.

Milner, of Lower West Avenue, Barnoldswick, admitted to six allegations of fraud and one charge of theft at a previous hearing before Pennine magistrates and had been committed for crown court sentence.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said the missing money was discovered when Steven Wiggles and Barbara Thomas joined the club’s board as secretary and treasurer.

The pair were approached by Milner’s ex-partner Catherine Wilkinson, who presented them with a number of documents regarding the defendant’s alleged mismanagement of the club.

Once they had the chance to inspect the paperwork, and conducted their own investigations, they contacted the police.

Fourteen club cheques from June 2011 to March 2014 had been deposited in Milner’s bank account.

In a statement, Mr Wiggles, said: “The club was virtually penniless and we found ourselves dragged into debt, which was in the region of £4,000, to cover debts for the ground’s rent and unpaid bills.

“We had been led to believe, in committee meetings, that the rent we would have to pay had been paid.

“The club has organised various fundraisers and it’s been the determined effort of members that has ensured the club’s survival.”

Milner, who represented himself in court, said: “I am extremely sorry for what I have done and regret it every day.

“I never intended to caused any harm to anyone else but during this period I was under serious financial pressures.”

He told the court that he had played for West Craven Warriors and still had many friends associated with the West Craven Warriors and felt that he had let down both his family and his former club colleagues.

“I feel like I have turned my life around since then. I have got a new job and a new partner and I would like to make amends for what I have done,” said Milner.