A former junior football club chairman stole \u00a322,491 from accounts and faked HMRC documents to feed his cocaine habit.<\/b><\/p>\n
Karl Morecroft, 45, lied to club members at RTB Ebbw Vale while taking home the payments over the course of 15 months.<\/p>\n
The club in Blaenau Gwent supported 330 children and relied on the goodwill of fundraisers, parents and volunteers to raise the money to keep going after the fraud.<\/p>\n
Morecroft was given a 20-month jail term suspended for two years at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, and must complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 50 rehabilitation days.<\/p>\n
He was also ordered to pay \u00a321,259 within three years and a default order of 12 months in prison if he failed to do so was imposed.<\/p>\n
Morecroft, of Alexandra Street in Blaina, coached the under-eights and under-nines before becoming chairman in 2023.<\/p>\n
He pretended the money was for “football equipment, council liabilities, Companies House fees, charity registration costs and business penalties”.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Denise Osei said Morecroft repeatedly lied about making “out of pocket” payments for which he had requested “reimbursements” from treasurer Joshua Holvey.<\/p>\n
At times Morecroft would himself transfer money from the club’s account to his own.<\/p>\n
Eventually Holvey became suspicious as spending had “exponentially grown” and the club was not seeing any of the goods supposedly ordered.<\/p>\n
When the losses were raised with Morecroft in early 2025 he claimed to be innocent and continued to give false excuses.<\/p>\n
Only after a report was made to police did Morecroft admit the fraud, saying he would pay back the \u00a322,491.<\/p>\n
On Monday’s sentencing it was heard he had failed to do so apart from a single payment of \u00a31,232 in May 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In a victim impact statement, Holvey said the fraud had affected his mental health.<\/p>\n
“I never questioned his intentions. I was naive and assumed someone in his position would act with integrity, so I would send money whenever I was asked,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Looking back I feel a deep sense of guilt and shame for not recognising the warning signs,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Thousands of pounds have been lost leaving the club struggling to recover and its future uncertain.<\/p>\n
“I have lost confidence in my own judgement and feel responsible for allowing the situation to escalate. I joined the club to contribute positively, but instead I feel I have enabled wrongdoing.”<\/p>\n
Rachel Edwards, the club’s secretary, said its finances were under “severe pressure” because of Morecroft.<\/p>\n
“We were forced to secure short-term borrowing simply to fund end-of-season trophies,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We were unable to carry out essential maintenance and there was deterioration of our pitches.”<\/p>\n
Edwards said the club had been unable to pay for winter training facilities on time and coaches had to make do with “worn-out resources”.<\/p>\n
She added: “We missed a deadline to enter a 30-year lease of the building, which will have a serious long-term effect.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Defence barrister Jeff Jones said Morecroft’s partner had secured a \u00a310,000 loan that could be paid immediately towards the compensation.<\/p>\n
But Judge Paul Hobson questioned why he was relying on his partner, particularly given Morecroft was in a well-paid job since before the offence was exposed.<\/p>\n
Hobson said: “Why has he not been putting money to the side over the last 16 months when he has not been paying \u00a31,000 a week on cocaine?”<\/p>\n
Jones said Morecroft “had other debts”, adding: “He has been a good parent and is drug-free after an addiction to the pernicious drug cocaine.”<\/p>\n
He added that ill feeling towards Morecroft in the community had to a degree “spread to his partner” and affected his two children, who had experienced some isolation in the aftermath of the fraud.<\/p>\n
The judge said Morecroft, who has three previous offences on his record including battery and racially or religiously-aggravated harassment dating back to 2010, should have treated this debt as “a particular priority”.<\/p>\n
He added: “Clubs like RTB are the lifeblood of the local community, bringing people together around something positive. They are run by volunteers giving up their time for no financial reward.<\/p>\n
“Those people trusted you – so much that you were appointed chairman. You betrayed that trust.”<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"