A WORKING men's club secretary who fleeced his organisation out of more than £14,000 by cooking the books has walked free from court.
Former miner Albert Hepworth, aged 65, continued to pay his wife for cleaning Hatfield Main Working Men's Club in Doncaster for nine years after she retired due to ill health.
The cash was split between him and other members of the club - but the scam was uncovered when a new president took over.
Katherine Robinson, prosecuting at Sheffield Crown Court, said: "Mr Hepworth was secretary from 1993 to 2004. Part of his duties involved book-keeping and accounting.
"He was the only person with access to the wage books.
"His wife was working as a cleaner at the club but stopped in 1995 due to ill health.
"The defendant carried on paying her over a number of years."
Miss Robinson said Hepworth told the new president his wife was being paid for book keeping duties at home.
But Hepworth, of Peter's Gate, Scawthorpe, Doncaster, continued to claim the money as if his wife of 47 years was working at the club.
It was only when he was off work because of illness that tax forms were discovered in a filing cabinet.
"They showed Mrs Hepworth was still working at the club - but she was not," said Miss Robinson.
Hepworth admitted six counts of false accounting and an all-encompassing count of theft. In total £14,316 went missing between 1998 and 2004.
David Taylor, defending, said the case had been a "nightmare" for Hepworth.
He said the pensioner had not benefited financially from the scam, adding: "There has been a long running dispute as to what did happen.
"No doubt money was taken in agreement with others who shared some of the money."
He said Hepworth had no money, lived in a council property, and he and his wife survived on their pensions.
"Every penny that goes in goes out," he said.
Sentencing Hepworth to 150 hours' community service, Judge Geoffrey Robinson told him: "At the age of 65 you find yourself in the dock of the Crown Court having pleaded guilty to six counts of false accounting and one of theft."
But he added: "I am satisfied you did not gain personally from your dishonesty."
Hepworth was also ordered to pay £500 in costs.
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