A BARMAN who “borrowed” money from the till at Abingdon Conservative Club — and then fiddled the accounts to cover his tracks — has been spared jail.

Peter Baskerville, 60, of Ash Gate, Abingdon, took money from the bar he was running and then deliberately added up figures on the balance sheet incorrectly to hide the discrepancies, Oxford Crown Court heard.

However, the exact amount of money missing from the bar accounts at the Ock Street club, where Baskerville had been responsible for the day-to-day running since 2003, was still unknown.

In court it was said that more than £19,000 was missing from the ledger, but that father-of-three Baskerville had paid back £11,682.10 — far more than he had borrowed.

At an earlier hearing, Baskerville admitted six counts of false accounting between April 2006 and January 2009.

The court heard that systems operated by the club, where other members borrowed money from the bar, “left a great deal to be desired”, and that Baskerville was by no means responsible for all the missing money.

David Bright, defending, said: “He has never disputed that he borrowed money — he repaid more than he knew he borrowed. The systems that were being operated by this club left a very great deal to be desired. It was ripe for exploitation — he (Mr Baskerville) was not the only one.”

The court heard that Baskerville had never been on basic bookkeeping or accountancy courses.

Of his bookkeeping, Mr Bright added: “It was so transparent that either someone more senior was not checking, or were doing their job, noticed what was going on and exploiting it — I am not sure which.

“He is a decent fellow, but he allowed himself to get deeper and deeper and deeper into the quicksand.”

Brian Payne, prosecuting, said there was “complete disarray” at the club.

He said: “This is the sort of case where an individual puts himself into a difficult position and then goes on to tell an accounting lie.

“In any properly-run organisation, perhaps this might have been picked up at an earlier stage.”

Recorder David Altaras gave Baskerville a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered him to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,200 costs.

He said: “There is no saying the amount of money which has been lost as a result.

“You were the steward, you were responsible for the bar and making up the accounts.

“In falsifying the accounts, you did so in a very transparent way.

“There appears to have been a culture in this club where members were entitled to borrow from the bar, allowing you to dip your fingers in the till.

“The borrowing snowballed, so you resorted to falsifying accounts.”

No one from Abingdon & District Conservative Club was available for comment, although an internal investigation was said to be under way.