Matthew Lock stole the cash from Whitchurch Community Association in Cardiff
A thief who enjoyed a holiday to California while stealing money from a registered charity has been ordered to pay back the £5,000 he pocketed.
Matthew Lock was spared a prison sentence following his conviction but was ordered to re-pay thousands of pounds he stole from the Whitchurch Community Association in Cardiff .
Sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court , Judge Daniel Williams said: “This was a breach of trust.”
The court heard the 39-year-old enjoyed a holiday to California while he was stealing money from the charity.
Prosecutor Andrew Jones said Lock stole a total of £5,006 from the group, based in Ty’n-Y-Pwll Road in Whitchurch .
He said the defendant was employed to take bookings for the hall and his job involved handling cash and cheques.
Lock, from Owens Court in Whitchurch, denied the offence but was found guilty by a jury following a trial at Newport Crown Court .
Prosecutors asked for £5,000 to be paid in compensation but Nicholas Gareth Jones, defending, said: “The defendant has no money.”
He told the court his client receives £230 per fortnight in benefits.
Judge Daniel Williams noted the evidence given during the trial was “overwhelming”.
He told the defendant: “You were able to steal that money because they trusted you – this was a breach of trust.”
The judge ordered Lock to pay the full £5,006 in compensation at a rate of £40 a week.
That should take the defendant 125 weeks, or about two and a half years.
He was jailed for nine months, suspended for 18 months.
A community order was made requiring him to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.
Jonathan Morgan, chairman of the charity’s trustees, said the community was “devastated” by Lock’s actions.
He said: “For a charity it was a lot of money to lose but it was not just the loss of the money – it was also the breach of faith.”
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