Norfolk rugby official guilty of fraud told to pay back £50k

Trevor Lee, 57, lost a total of £378,661 through gambling over more than a decade and took cash from two organisations he worked for, including the Norfolk Rugby Union Referees Society (NRURS), of which he was a treasurer.

In November last year Lee, of Elm Road, Garboldisham, was jailed for three years and four months after admitting two counts of fraud.

The case was back at Norwich Crown Court last month for a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) hearing. 

Norwich Crown Court (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest)Proceeds of crime refers to assets, funds and property gained through criminal activity and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the power to confiscate these assets.

The hearing heard Lee's realisable assets were found to be £50,836.35 which he must pay back by December 21 or face six months imprisonment in default.

Lee's deception was discovered when the NRURS's new chairman Graham Smith, a former police inspector, asked to be added as a signatory on the club accounts and found they contained only 65p, rather than the expected £24,000.

Mr Smith challenged Lee over the missing money at a society meeting, before calling police.

He also tipped off Lee's employer, a fish merchants called Salire Ltd, as the firm was a sponsor of the club.

Further investigations found Lee had also defrauded thousands of pounds from the company.

Chris Youell, prosecuting, said Lee had a "long-term gambling addiction" and "in order to obtain funds to feed that addiction, he became involved in two frauds".

Jailing Lee Recorder John Bate-Williams said these were "very serious offences of fraud causing very substantial losses".

Recorder Bate-Williams recognised Lee had a "long-standing gambling addiction" which he helped pay for "by a prolonged period of terrible dishonesty".