A former SAS finance officer stole more than £100,000 from the special forces regiment and hid it under a flowerpot, a court martial heard.

Sergeant Mark McKay, 36, is accused of transferring a total of $200,000, intended for special operations abroad as well as the welfare of soldiers' families, into his own bank account over an eight-month period.

Half the money was found in $10,000 bundles of new notes after a tip-off to the military police.

Prosecutors claimed that Sergeant McKay was too scared to spend the money, fearing that a “cash trail” would be traced back to him. So he allegedly hid half the cash - ten bundles each containing $10,000 - in a terracotta pot at the front of his army base home.

Nadim Bashir, for the prosecution, told a military hearing at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire that Sergeant McKay, who can be legally named because he no longer serves with the SAS, had been a senior officer entrusted with the regiment's finances.

Mr Bashir said: “He was at the top of his trade: a confident, intelligent and articulate finance officer. This was no panic attack, this was not a moment of madness. This was a calculated crime where he hoped he would not be caught.

“He was a finance officer and his responsibilities would be to carry out the checks on soldiers' pay, expenses and money that went to soldiers' families. The money would also be used for special investigations abroad.”

Sergeant McKay, who was based at Stirling Lines, the headquarters of the SAS near Hereford, from 2000, was one of only five people with access to the regiment's bank accounts.

Major Gerald Crowe, regimental administration officer at the time, said that Sergeant McKay could easily access different currencies at the base. Major Crowe said he believed that he could trust Sergeant McKay, whom he had personally advanced through the ranks because of his “excellent” history.

Major Crowe said: “When he started at the camp he was a corporal but was soon handed a sergeant role. I thought he was an excellent candidate for Stirling SAS.

“He was responsible for the public funds expenditure, the taxpayers' money. There was regular access to the accounts but I trusted him fully. I had no reason to doubt him ever.”

However, it was alleged, during the final months of his attachment to the SAS, Sergeant McKay began transferring regimental funds held in US dollars into his bank account.

After his posting to a regiment based in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, in 2004 he withdrew the funds in cash and closed his bank account before hiding the money in different places.

Mr Bashir said: “On Sunday, April 30, 2006, police arrived at McKay's on-base house after some special intelligence.

“His house was searched, and so was his Audi TT convertible. Two plant pots at the front of the house were also searched. In the right one, underneath the soil, a black bag was found and in this bag there were ten bundles of $10,000.

“He admitted that he was hiding the money in the pot from his girlfriend because they were splitting up. He said that when he closed his account he had money he could not account for. He was in surplus of $200,000 so he decided to hide it.”

Sergeant McKay denies theft. The case continues and is expected to last a further two days.

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