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 cash from the bar he was running and then falsified figures to hide the discrepancies, Oxford Crown Court heard.

The exact amount of money missing at the Ock Street club, where Baskerville had been responsible for its day-to-day running since 2003, was unknown.

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

In court it was said that more than £19,000 was missing, but that father-of-three Basker-ville had paid back £11,682.10 – far more than he took.

At an earlier hearing Basker-ville admitted six counts of false accounting between April 2006 and January 2009.

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 was not the only one.”

The court heard Baskerville had never been on accountancy or book-keeping courses.

Of his book-keeping, Mr Bright added: “It was so transparent that either someone more senior was not checking – or noticed what was going on and exploited 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 added: “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, who no longer works at the club, a 26-week prison sentence suspended for two years.

He also ordered him to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,200 costs.

He said: “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 and District Conservative Club was available for comment last night, although it is believed an internal investigation is under way.