A finance manager for a branch of a national charity used stolen donations to rent a flat in one of Britain’s most exclusive enclaves.

John Cunningham, 35, paid for the apartment in Sandbanks, over-looking Poole Harbour in Dorset, where even modest houses cost millions, by cashing cheques sent to the disability charity Scope.

The finance manager for Dorset, he also kept a fleet of expensive cars and motorcycles, including a £28,000 Lotus Elise convertible, a Lexus saloon and a Harley-Davidson “Fat Boy”.

For three years the father of two covered his tracks by creating false invoices, but eventually his conscience led him to confess the fraud to police.

A judge at Bournemouth Crown Court warned Cunningham yesterday that he faced a lengthy jail sentence after he pleaded guilty to stealing £150,000 from Scope. Police believe that he may have taken much more as he kept no record of his thefts.

Within three months of starting work with Scope in October 2003, Cunningham was diverting donations into his own pocket. He would take cheques to the bank and cash them, keeping the money and creating false invoices to cover his tracks.

When asked about his apparent wealth, he told colleagues that he had “business interests” abroad. Neither his wife, whom he left for a female co-worker, nor his new partner suspected what was going on.

Detective Constable Michael Garrett, of Poole CID, said that Cunningham moved into the flat in Sandbanks after leaving his wife. He added: “His colleagues saw him as a respectable, smartly dressed financial manager. They didn’t have a clue he was helping himself.” Cunningham will be sentenced on March 27.

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