SHE was trusted with a Hampshire community charity’s cash.

Well known in her local New Forest neighbourhood, nobody suspected Lesley Cox would be reduced to pinching the pennies.

But Cox exploited her voluntary role as treasurer of the Blackfield Neighbourhood Centre.

Fiddling the cheque books and cashing cheques instead of sending them off to utility companies, the 44-year-old pocketed more than £1,000 for her own benefit over the course of a year.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Cox had taken on the role of treasurer of the centre, a registered charity, after former chairman Mary Potter approached her in December 2003.

But, when the charity began to struggle due to low finances in 2006, Mrs Potter resigned and Craig Wilson took over.

When he discovered bank statements that did not tie up with the amount of money being generated from the centre’s activities, and the electricity company was threatening to cut off supplies due to unpaid bills, he called in the police.

Officers discovered Cox, of Heather Road in Blackfield where the centre is also based, had been completing cheque book stubs with false information, claiming she had correctly paid cheques when in fact she had cashed them for herself.

She stole a total of £1,200 during 2005 and 2006.

John Riley, representing Cox, told the court she was putting in a full time job’s worth of work helping to run the centre.

He said: “She feels this was a very sad chapter in her life and one she is extremely sorry for. She feels she has let herself and others down.”

The court heard the charity was struggling so much in 2006, following its loss of a contract with Totton College that rented out rooms in the centre, that New Forest District Council stepped in to run the centre.

Totton College has since renewed its contract and the centre is now thriving.

Cox, who has a previous conviction for falsely claiming housing and council tax benefits, pleaded guilty to seven counts of false accounting.

Judge Derwin Hope sentenced her to 240 hours’ unpaid work and 20 weeks’ imprisonment to run concurrently for each count, suspended for 18 months.

He said: “It may not seem a large sum of money when compared with other sums that come before the courts, but it was a substantial amount from a struggling charity.”