The treasurer of a women’s football club raided its coffers for ten years to fund his gambling addiction. John McCormack admitted he was ‘uncomfortable’ looking after the finances at Solihull-based Leafield Athletic Ladies FC but claimed no-one else wanted to do it.
The 56-year-old dad also purported that he gambled to try and solve financial difficulties at the club, which was one of the first to be set up in the Midlands dedicated to female players. Leafield has also produced top stars including Eni Aluko who represented England.
There was a dispute over how much was stolen during the period from 2012 to 2022 with the club chairman estimating as much as £30,000 had gone missing. But McCormack, who admitting raiding the funds in a club meeting, paid back £10,000 of his own accord.
At Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to a charge of theft in relation to an outstanding sum of £3,274.65. He was handed a 26 week jail sentence suspended for a year with 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement to complete.
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Prosecutor Helen Shipley told the court in 2020 the club’s new chairman began to take a keener interest in the accounts. She said: “The defendant being the treasurer, that’s one of his many functions. There’s a detailed statement from the chairman about various transactions but, in short, once the club had established there were unauthorised transactions then there’s a meeting with the defendant to ask him about the discrepancies and anomalies.
“The chairman said they believed initially there was a loss of about £30,000 but the reason £3,274.65 is the charge is that this defendant admitted he had been taking unauthorised money from the club but has paid quite a lot of it back.”
Ms Shipley stated that McCormack was arrested and told police ‘yes I have been taking money from the club, I had a gambling addiction and was stealing to fund that addiction’. She added: “There’s an abuse of trust here. Smaller clubs rely on every penny. That’s quite a significant amount of money to a club of that nature.”
Martin Smith, defending, told the court McCormack was of ‘positive good character’ having been involved in ladies’ football for over 25 years including coaching players. He said: “He has taken steps to address his offending behaviour himself by attending Gamblers Anonymous.
“Unfortunately, I don’t seek to blame any other person, it’s unfortunately a fact in this case that an inappropriate degree of trust and responsibility was imposed on this defendant.”
He added: “Right from an early stage the defendant was uncomfortable. It was raised but he was told no-one else wanted to take it on.”
Mr Smith continued: “The club started to get into financial difficulty. One of the thought processes that goes to a gambler’s mind, he started to take money from the club with the intention to bring back more for the club. With the benefit of hindsight it was unlikely to happen.”
McCormack, of Alston Road, Solihull was formally ordered to repay £3,274.65 in compensation to the club. District Judge Michelle Smith said: “The club placed a high degree of trust in you and you broke that causing shock and stress to them. You have lost your good character and resigned from the football club as a result of your actions.
“You have admitted the offence to the club, police and the court. You have made repayments. You have also taken positive steps to address your gambling addiction and I accept you have shown genuine remorse.”
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