A FINANCE assistant cheated a leading local charity out of tens of thousands of pounds - damaging their reputation as well as their perilous finances, a court heard.

Dale Mills defrauded Autism Together - previously known as the Wirral Autistic Society - out of almost £120,000 over four years before his dishonesty came to light.

As well as secretly taking money from the accounts of at least 24 unsuspecting service users Mills used the charity’s bank account to line his own pockets.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 36-year-old, who began working with the organisation as a trainee finance assistant in February 2001, turned to crime to fund his gambling addiction.

Jailing him for 32 months Judge Clement Goldstone QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, said, “Rarely has a court read more glowing references than those in your case and which makes the position which you find yourself all the more tragic, not so much for you because you brought it upon yourself, but for those whom you love and for those who thought highly of you.”

The judge told bearded Mills, who stood in the dock with his eyes shut, “Instead of looking after the interests of those people whose lives were already difficult enough you transferred their benefits to your own accounts and you falsified records for the purpose of covering your tracks.

“You did that by making cash withdrawals with service users credit cards, totalling £10,000 and far more substantially by transferring in the region of £110,000 from the charity’s bank account to your own.

“In addition on one occasion you used the charity’s credit card to take yourself on a flight.”

Judge Goldstone said that while the charity, which helps people from the Wirral, Cheshire and North Wales, has a large financial turnover its position was “far from rosy” and it had a £200,000 overdraft.

The loss he had caused was significant “and you have put the charitable status of Autism Together at risk because the impact of your crime on the reputation of the charity is inevitable.

“Only time will tell whether the previous good standing of this charity will enable them to continue to deliver the benefits which they have done for so long for those who suffer from autism and their families.”

Mills, of Bromborough Village Road, Bromborough, had pleaded guilty to two offences of fraud and one of false accounting between September 2012 and December 2016 when the offences came to light.

The judge said that Mills, a father-of-four, “There is no doubt your remorse is as genuine as it is total.

“You bear a previous good character which is accurately and properly described as a positive good character.You have conquered your addiction to gambling, you have strong family ties and you have, since leaving the charity, been able to find employment.”

Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, had told the court that Mills’ role covered all areas of finance as well as being a significant point of contact for the 100 service users and their families.

“He was well liked and trusted and were generally the main point of contact in the finance department for families who had questions.

“He abused his position as finance assistant to fraudulently divert money to his own account and withdraw cash using service users credit cards.”

Mr Hopkins said that at least 24 service users were disadvantaged by his dishonesty but most, because of their autism, were unaware of his behaviour. There had been 91 transactions other accounts and 58 transactions between January 2013 and December 2016 totalling £109,325 involving the charity’s bank account.

There was evidence of 46 account transactions to cover up his tracks because discrepancies came to light on December 7, 2016. “When confronted the next day he admitted his guilt.”

When interviewed by police the next month he admitted he had gambling debts and extensive investigations over the next 12 months revealed the scale of his dishonesty.

At the end of March 2017 the charity had an income of 20.1 million, expenditure of £20.4 million and an overdraft of £200,000, explained Mr Hopkins.

Michael O’Brien, defending, said that in his own words “he was a stranger to himself for many years.

“This offending occurred at a time when he was mentally unwell suffering from depression and anxiety and suffering from a gambling addiction. He wished dote be caught because he wanted to sort out the problem.”

Mr O’Brien said that he is now in a new loving relationship and is working hard for an employer who is supportive and was in the public gallery.

He has addressed his gambling addiction and wants to sign up to provide counselling to others who find themselves in a similar situation to the one he had been in.

In a statement, chief executive of Autism Together Robin Bush said: “It was deeply shocking to uncover this fraud and it has taken diligent work by the police and our own internal teams to get to this point.

“We need to be very careful not to prejudice legal proceedings. However, we can confirm that we have written to the families of all our charity’s service users and residents and reassured them that day-to-day life at Autism Together will continue exactly as normal.

“We’ve provided a contact within our organisation for any families who need additional reassurance and our training team have developed support materials which will help staff explain what has happened to any service users who are concerned.

“We’ll be publishing updates when we are able to and will share a full statement at the appropriate time.”