A RESPECTED accountant who stole more than £700,000 from his clients and a number of Manchester charities has been jailed for six years.

Anthony Roberts, 73, stole cash from six charities - taking away money destined to help orphans and the disabled - and two private clients from 1992 to 2004.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Roberts embarked on his deception shortly after he relocated his business, Roberts & Co, to Stockport in 1991. He claimed that the subsequent recession hit the company hard and plunged him into a large amount of debt. The court heard he began to steal from his clients to pay back the arrears.

In 1993 he became part of another company called North West Nominees Ltd, which provided an investment holding service for charities. His role included managing money transfers and shares.

Police said his false accounting escalated after he took the role.

Roberts, of Burton in Lancashire, stole more than £300,000 from a charity called Doctors Green and from Slater Rest Houses. He also stole more than £180,000 from Sir Ralph Pendlebury's Charity For The Aged and Sir Ralph Pendlebury's Charity For The Orphans.

A police spokesman said the thefts 'devastated' the charities and left them unable to offer the usual financial support to many elderly Stockport residents and local orphans. 

Roberts stole almost £125,000 from The Ephraim Hallam Educational Foundation and The Ephraim Hallam Eleemosyndry Charity, who help fund education and health in the Stockport area. Roberts acted as a governor to both charities from 1989. Around £26,000 was also taken from the Stockport Educational Foundation, which provides educational grants to students.

Friends

Roberts also targeted two personal friends - stealing £60,000 from one and £12,000 from the other. However, his guilt eventually got the better of him and he made a full confession to police. He also wrote an admission to clients.

A transcript of that letter was released after Roberts pleaded guilty to six counts of theft and four counts of false accounting.

In it, Roberts apologises for his scam and reveals he has resigned for the Institute of Chartered Accounts and the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

He wrote: "I began taking small amounts of income from charities, and other sources, to fund basic business costs with the intention of returning the monies when my profit position improved. However, whilst I sometimes returned money, I would then take more and my profits never improved sufficiently to replace all the monies taken.

"I feel deep shame for what I have done."

Det Con Paul Walls, from Stockport CID, said: "Roberts was in a position of trust and his actions have had devastating consequences for the charities and people involved.

"He was regarded as a family friend by two of the victims, which has made his deceit even harder for them to bear. Roberts not only used the cash he had stolen to pay his business debts, he also used it to fund his own lifestyle, owning two properties and putting his children through university.

"The charities involved have had substantial amounts of cash stolen from them, cash that they rely upon to be able to continue providing help and services to vulnerable people.

"The future of some of the charities is under threat as a result and I only hope they are able to get some of their money back now this case is over."

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing, where Roberts could be forced to pay the money back, is due to take place on December 19.

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