A WORKER who stole more than £130,000 from a charity to feed his gambling addiction has been jailed.

Craig Whittingham, of Furzehill, Chard, turned to gambling after finding out his mother had developed terminal cancer and that his father also had cancer.

The 23-year-old former Holyrood School student had been at university when he was told of his mother’s illness and moved back home to support her.

He got a job as a financial administrator at the mental health charity Mind Taunton and West Somerset in 2010 and starting stealing the money in 2012.

Whittingham, who used to manage Chard Rangers Reserves football team, was jailed for two years at Taunton Crown Court on Friday, having earlier admitted two counts of theft.

Prosecuting, William Hunter, said: “The defendant was responsible for the day to day running of the charity’s finances.

“They were helping him with his training and sending him on courses.

“They had two bank accounts, and earlier this year they noticed discrepancies in the accounts.

“The police were informed, and discovered that between October, 2012, and July, 2014, he had made 13 fraudulent transactions from the first account to his own of over £91,000.

“Between March, 2012, and July, 2014, he made 216 cash withdrawals from the second account, totalling over £40,000.

“When he was interviewed by police he told them he had a gambling habit, and had got into debt and into the habit of stealing money.

“He has said ‘sorry’ and has co-operated fully.” The court heard that the £133,000 stolen equated to 25% of the charity’s annual turnover and its insurance only covered £50,000, meaning it had lost over £80,000.

Mr Hunter said: “The charity has lost confidence – the future of it is uncertain.”

Defending, Harry Ahuja said a psychologist’s report found that Whittingham was suffering from clinical depression and has a severe gambling disorder.

Mr Ahuja added: “He started to gamble as a form of escapism as a result of the difficulties he was facing in his personal life.

“It was a habit which soon spiralled out of control.

“He accepts full responsibility for what he did and is extremely remorseful and ashamed.

“He didn’t want to take it upon himself to worry his parents about what was going on.

“He didn’t go and see his GP about his depression because he just thought he was low because of what his parents were going through.

“He felt he couldn’t admit to it because of the charity he worked for.

“This isn’t someone who stole for greed to buy things for himself, all of the money has been gambled.

“He has been honest with his employers and the police from the start of the investigation.” The court heard there will be a Proceeds of Crime hearing in March, to see if Mind can recover any more money from Whittingham.

Speaking after the case, a spokesperson for Mind said: “As a result of this crime we have closely reviewed our financial procedures to ensure that our systems are as robust as they can be.

“We are also working closely with the police and our insurers and are taking appropriate advice.

“We continue to ensure that this has no impact on the charity’s delivery of services.

“As before, we offer a range of valuable mental health support services such as a helpline, bereavement support, advocacy, and peer support, to meet the needs of the local community of Somerset.

“Mind TWS has worked hard to ensure that there is no impact on the delivery of our charity’s services, while the fraud is regrettable we do not view it at putting the charity’s direct future at risk.

“It has been a difficult period, during which we have moved to better and more accessible premises, our team here at Mind TWS have got us through this and we look forward to 2015.”