The former treasurer of a village fete near Selby has been sentenced to 240 hours community service after pleading guilty to what a judge described as "squalid dishonesty."

Terence Todd, 49, of Flaxley Road, Selby, appeared at Hull Crown Court charged with the theft of £2,578, which he took from Hemingbrough fete committee's bank account and placed in his own. The court heard that following the last fete, held in 1995, proceeds were placed into the bank. When the committee discussed the possibility of holding a Millennium fete at the beginning of this year, the theft was discovered.

Todd was arrested in May, and during police interviews told officers that he admitted taking the money. He said he intended to repay the money, but admitted that at the time of his arrest he had only £700 in his account.

In mitigation, defence counsel Nigel Wray told the court: "On the face of it this is a serious breach of trust. He has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, and he is genuinely remorseful at what he has done. He is also racked with guilt for the shame he has brought on his family, and indeed the village in which he is held in high esteem."

A further charge of falsifying accounts was not proceeded with after the Crown accepted Todd's plea of not guilty to the offence.