A former director of the Dean Heritage Centre who defrauded the charity has been given a suspended jail term.

Nicholas Wood of Brains Green, Awre, received 26 weeks in prison suspended for two years and was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay court costs of £1,500 and a victim surcharge of £115.

Last month, after a trial at Cirencester Courthouse, Wood was convicted of defrauding the museum at Soudley by claiming he had paid two bills totalling almost £1,500 out of his own pocket and needed to be reimbursed.

Following his conviction the case was adjourned until last Thursday (February 10) for sentence by Recorder Malcolm Gibney, sitting in Bristol.

The 39-year-old had denied fraud by claiming to have paid a bill of £750 for an open air cinema event at the Museum and £744 for a consignment of sand to fill proposed children’s sandpits on the grounds.

The offences were committed between  June 1 and August 1 2019, shortly after he had started work as centre director.

The jury rejected his claim that he had paid out any money for either event or that the Chair of Trustees was a party to what he had done and they convicted him of both charges.