A CHARITY has vowed to stand by one of its volunteers who was spared jail after swindling more than £4,500 through his job as a car parts dealer.

Noel Drummey, 36, was found guilty of pocketing cash from customers at GSF Car Parts in Horspath.

Magistrates heard Drummey took the cash and recorded fake bank transfers or cheques to the company, stealing a total of £4,561.54 from three accounts between April and May 2013.

Drummey, of Coneygar Fields, Steeple Aston, had denied three charges of fraud, but was found guilty on March 23.

Last week, he was given a 10-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months.

However, Upper Heyford charity Clean Slate has vowed to keep Drummey on as a support worker for adults and children who have been abused.

Drummey volunteers for Clean Slate, a charity which helps victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as supporting people through grief and divorce.

Victims are referred to the charity through the police, social services and health services, including the Kingfisher Team, which was set up to deal with child sexual exploitation in the county.

His manager Anji Hall said: “We support Noel.

“He has been honest with us from the start.

“This does not affect the good work he is doing for the charity and his commitment to helping other males overcome the affects of abuse.”

Drummey was ordered to pay back a total of £4,546.70 in compensation to GSF Car Parts.

The fraud was not uncovered until March last year, when a customer refused to pay twice.

Audit manager at GSF Car Parts Alan Jagger said: “Drummey came from one of our competitors as a branch manager in November 2013 and we accepted his resignation in April 2014.

“In March 2014 there was a query on a customer’s account.

“When our manager phoned the customer for payment they said they had already paid.

“An investigation was called and we found there were a number of amounts where he had allocated monies to customers accounts from bank transfers and cheques which didn’t exist.

“Customers paid by cash then Drummey said they were done by card payment or bank transfer and took the cash.

“It was on three major accounts.”

When contacted following his sentence, Drummey refused to comment.