A TREASURER accused of stealing thousands of pounds from an Oxfordshire youth football club and the Ministry of Defence tried to hide her crimes by failing to record cheques in an MoD cash book, jurors heard today.

Natalie Ross, of Reedmace Road, Bicester, denies charges of theft, obtaining by deception and false accounting.

The 39-year-old is standing trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of stealing money from the MoD and Highfield Juniors Football Club, based in Bicester, between 2004 and 2007.

Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said: “The defendant is effectively concealing taking money by not recording in the cash book cheques received and then taking that sum in cash.”

Mark White, an accountant employed by the MoD, yesterday told the jury there should have been a two-part transaction, in which an incoming cheque would first be recorded in the cash book, then put into the safe before it was taken to be deposited at a bank.

He said discrepancies in the ministry’s accounts, which Ross began working on in November 2003, suggested money had been paid into the bank and cashed, but had not been recorded in the cash book.

The court was told 196 cheque payments had been unaccounted for during the three-year period the charges relate to.

Graham Russell, defending, said money had gone from one of the MoD accounts but had been paid into another MoD account to create a “cash surplus”, and that Ross herself had not benefited from this.

Last week, Highfield Juniors officials denied claims by Ross that they had asked her for cash to cover a number of emergency payments.

The case continues.