It's £6k or jail for golf trip fraudster

4:37pm Sunday 2nd September 2007

MEMBERS of a golf society say justice has been done after their secretary who stole thousands of pounds was ordered to do community service.

Mark Tremblin must carry out 140 hours of unpaid work in the community after admitting three counts of fraud over a period of 12 months, between May 1, 2006 and May 24, 2007.

But the 40-year-old will have to serve a three-month sentence in custody if he does not pay more than £6,000 during the next year.

Although he paid back the money other members had contributed for an overseas trip, he had the benefit of cash raised.

That means under new Proceeds of Crime Act legislation he has to cough up £6,175.13 during the next year or face a jail term.

A judge at Swindon Crown Court was told that the money had been raised by members of the Duke of Wellington Golf Society, based at the Eastcott Road pub, for their annual trip to Tunisia.

Shortly before they were due to leave, Tremblin, of Leslie Close, Freshbrook, told members that the holiday company had cancelled the trip.

One member then stumped up the cash for the holiday and another the money for the green fees believing that the money would be refunded by the travel firm.

However, the truth was Tremblin had not booked the holiday and had used the cash for his own purposes.

Chris Smyth, defending, said that his client had paid back all the £10,000 which had been paid by other members of the club for the trip.

That meant no one was out of pocket as the members got their golfing holiday and the people who put up the money at short notice had been repaid.

But since Tremblin had enjoyed the benefit from £6,175 - the amount of money stolen that could be substantiated - he has to repay that as well, with the money going to the Treasury.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, described the teeth of the new Proceeds of Crime Act as "a furiously vicious penalty".

Although many members of the club and the men who had put forward the money at short notice had not wanted the case to proceed, he pointed out it was not up to them.

"The point is criminal justice is wider than the interests of one or two people," he said.

Since the case was reported to the police the members who blew the whistle on Tremblin have been frozen out of the society, while the man himself has been reinstated as secretary.

David Williams, 62, who was one of the men to report the theft, said: "I am pleased that justice has been done and been seen to be done.

"I think now is the time to close the matter. There's no disappointment from my point of view about him not going to prison because if he had he would have lost his job and not been able to repay the money.

"The fact that he hasn't got a prison sentence is advantageous to us all."

Society president Mark Humphries, who is landlord of the Duke of Wellington, said: "As far as I'm concerned and the majority of the society's view is it's all done and dusted now.

"Mark has been sentenced, he has got what he deserved. He did wrong but he is still a likeable bloke."