Karl Morecroft lied to fellow club members as he took payments amounting to £22,491 over the course of more than a year. The former junior football club chairman stole the money from RTB Ebbw Vale and faked HMRC documents to feed his cocaine habit.
Morecroft, 45, lied to club members at RTB Ebbw Vale while taking home the payments over the course of 15 months. The club in Blaenau Gwent supported 330 children and relied on the goodwill of fundraisers, parents and other volunteers to raise the money to keep the club going.
Morecroft was given a 20-month jail term suspended for two years at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, and must complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 50 rehabilitation days. He was also ordered to pay £21,259 within three years and a default order of 12 months in prison if he failed to do so was imposed.
Morecroft, of Alexandra Street in Blaina, coached the under-eights and under-nines before becoming chairman in 2023.
He pretended the money was for "football equipment, council liabilities, Companies House fees, charity registration costs and business penalties".
Prosecutor Denise Osei said Morecroft repeatedly lied about making "out of pocket" payments for which he had requested "reimbursements" from treasurer Joshua Holvey. At times Morecroft would himself transfer money from the club's account to his own.
Eventually Holvey became suspicious as spending had "exponentially grown" and the club was not seeing any of the goods supposedly ordered.
When the losses were raised with Morecroft in early 2025 he claimed to be innocent and continued to give false excuses.
Only after a report was made to police did Morecroft admit the fraud, saying he would pay back the £22,491. On Monday's sentencing it was heard he had failed to do so apart from a single payment of £1,232 in May 2025.
Club's future uncertain
In a victim impact statement, Holvey said the fraud had affected his mental health.
"I never questioned his intentions. I was naive and assumed someone in his position would act with integrity, so I would send money whenever I was asked," he said.
"Looking back I feel a deep sense of guilt and shame for not recognising the warning signs," he said.
"Thousands of pounds have been lost leaving the club struggling to recover and its future uncertain.
"I have lost confidence in my own judgement and feel responsible for allowing the situation to escalate. I joined the club to contribute positively, but instead I feel I have enabled wrongdoing."
Rachel Edwards, the club's secretary, said its finances were under "severe pressure" because of Morecroft.
"We were forced to secure short-term borrowing simply to fund end-of-season trophies," she said.
"We were unable to carry out essential maintenance and there was deterioration of our pitches."
Edwards said the club had been unable to pay for winter training facilities on time and coaches had to make do with "worn-out resources".
"We missed a deadline to enter a 30-year lease of the building, which will have a serious long-term effect."
Betrayed that trust
Defence barrister Jeff Jones said Morecroft's partner had secured a £10,000 loan that could be paid immediately towards the compensation.
But Judge Paul Hobson questioned why he was relying on his partner, particularly given Morecroft was in a well-paid job since before the offence was exposed.
"Why has he not been putting money to the side over the last 16 months when he has not been paying £1,000 a week on cocaine?"
Jones said Morecroft "had other debts", adding: "He has been a good parent and is drug-free after an addiction to the pernicious drug cocaine."
He added that ill feeling towards Morecroft in the community had to a degree "spread to his partner" and affected his two children, who had experienced some isolation in the aftermath of the fraud.
The judge said Morecroft, who has three previous offences on his record including battery and racially or religiously-aggravated harassment dating back to 2010, should have treated this debt as "a particular priority".
"Clubs like RTB are the lifeblood of the local community, bringing people together around something positive. They are run by volunteers giving up their time for no financial reward.
"Those people trusted you - so much that you were appointed chairman. You betrayed that trust."
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