THE crooked former treasurer of Wellington Conservative Club has handed back £53,500 he stole from the club over a period of more than four years.

Kevin Aylott, in his early 60s, of Sylvan Road, Wellington, walked from Taunton Crown Court with a sentence of 12 months, suspended for two years, after pleading guilty to fraud and abuse of position last October.

It was stated he stole the money from club funds to feed a gambling and alcohol habit.

The trusted officer of 23 years standing, a long-standing Freemason, doctored cheques which were paid to himself and his scam went undetected for four-and-a -half years – from April, 2011, to November, 2015 – due to a ‘laxity of accounting’, the court was told.

It was stated that Aylott, who had cancer, had been drinking more than a bottle of wine a day and gambling on the horses but ‘was not a particularly good gambler’.

Gregory Gordon, prosecuting, said the club’s total loss was £53,485.78 which would all be repaid from Aylott’s available funds of £168,000.

At the trial he was told to repay the money within six months and he would be subject to a recall and possibly subsequent imprisonment if he did not.

It is understood that although the money has now been repaid it was after the six months.