THE former treasurer of Ludlow Rugby Club has been jailed for eight months after admitting stealing more than £20,000 from its funds.

Samantha Rosenberg, 42, made cheques out to herself and made dozens of transfers of the club's money to her own bank account.

The fraud only came to light after rugby club officials received arrears notices over unpaid energy bills.

Passing sentence at Shrewsbury Crown Court Judge Peter Barrie accepted the offence was out of character and Rosenberg was genuinely remorseful.

Rosenberg, formerly from Ludlow and now of Llangattock, Crickhowell, Powys, had admitted three charges of fraud and one of false accounting.

The court heard that Rosenberg had been appointed treasurer at the rugby club in May 2012 and at the time had been employed as financial controller at Kingspan Insulation Ltd.

Her responsibilities included paying the club’s bills, preparing accounts and raising funds through sponsorship.

Philip Beardwell, prosecuting, said the defendant's dishonesty was discovered when club president Gerry Acton was informed by energy provider Npower that the club was £3,000 in arrears and the power had been cut off.

"It came as a total shock to Mr Acton. As far as he was concerned the club was not in any debt and had kept up to date with its liabilities,” said Mr Beardwell.

At a meeting with Rosenberg she had initially “waffled” and then broke down in tears and admitted she had been helping herself to cash from the club’s accounts.

Mr Beardwell said it was thought she had swindled around £3,500 from the club and it was agreed that if she paid the money back at a rate of £250 a month, plus a £2,000 bonus she was due from her employer, then no further action would be taken.

However, she failed to keep to the arrangement, and a forensic accountant was called in who revealed that Rosenberg had actually taken more than £20,000.

It emerged she had written 19 cheques to herself, and made 65 unauthorised transfers into her own account.

Michael Grey, defending, said his client was of previous good character and was deeply ashamed.

“She’s very sorry for all that she has done. She’s had to leave Ludlow and probably will never go back,” he said.

He said Rosenberg had repaid more than £4,200 to the club and her only asset now was a car worth around £2,000.

At the time of the offences she and her partner ran an outdoor clothing business which had struggled financially and she had been paying her wages into the business.

Mr Grey said that she had been in a difficult and traumatic relationship as, her then-partner, had mental health problems.

“He was emotionally unstable, and he took out his frustration on her, but she felt unable to get away from him,” he said.

Following the case rugby club officials spoke of the sense of betrayal having discovered the theft of monies which took the previously thriving club to the brink of financial ruin as Rosenberg siphoned off funds for her own use.

Rosenberg was appointed treasurer after the club was promoted to the Midlands One West league and more money needed to be raised for coaching, staff, and new kit and forming the club as a limited company .

Club secretary Andy Wright said until then the role of treasurer had been conducted efficiently by a number of senior club members, but did not have an accounting background.

He said Rosenberg, who portrayed herself as an accountant, had seemed to be the perfect candidate and had impressed fellow members with her business-like approach, but in fact within the first two months, she had been helping herself to cash from the club.

Concerns about the club's finances surfaced in September 2013 when, a loan secured to build a new clubhouse in the early 1990s, was due to have been paid off.

When questioned Rosenberg had responded with balance sheets which had been falsified and indicated that bills had been paid and suggested it was because of increased costs that the club was barely holding its head above water.

Mr Wright said historically there had always been two signatories to the club’s account with Lloyds Bank in Ludlow, the chairman and the treasurer, but for practical purposes only one signature of the two had been required.

Andy Wright, secretary of Ludlow Rugby Club, said in a statement following the case: "We are pleased that justice has been finally seen to be done but the sentence seems light by comparison with the amount of disruption, stress and pain caused to the club and the volunteers who run it.

"If it had not been for a very good friend of the rugby club who happens to be a forensic accountant this woman would probably have escaped justice.

"As it is we have lost £21k which is a massive loss to a club the size of Ludlow and represents an awful lot of hard work by volunteers who raise money for the club.

"We now want to put this behind us and work hard to regain the money we have lost. We have a promises auction on May 15 which we hope is going to replace much of the cash she has stolen."