A CHARITY administrator from York has appeared in court accused of stealing £76,000 that was meant to help sick children.

Howard Francis Rose has been charged with theft from the Yorkshire Children’s Hospital Fund over a three-year-period between June 2007 and May in 2010.

The 62-year-old businessman, of The Village in Earswick, York, appeared before York Magistrates’ Court yesterday for the first time since the charge was brought against him.

He has been charged under the Theft Act 1968 with stealing £76,040, which relates to a Lloyds TSB bank account belonging to the Yorkshire Children’s Hospital Trust, for which he is administrator.

Rose, dressed in a navy blue suit, shirt and tie, spoke only to confirm his name and address during the brief hearing before magistrates. He has yet to enter a plea to the charges.

Phillip Brown, defending, did not make any representations on his client’s behalf and the magistrates told the defendant he was facing “an extremely serious charge” which will go before a crown court judge at a later date. Rose was granted unconditional bail and will next appear before York Magistrates’ Court in August.

Rose has links with Yorkshire Children’s Spine Foundation and York Ainsty Rotary Club, of which he is a former president, as well as the Yorkshire Children’s Hospital Trust.

The Yorkshire Children’s Hospital Fund, which is based in Bedale, was established in 1989 to improve paediatric services and provide essential medical and emergency equipment in children and neonatal wards across Yorkshire’s hospitals, when such equipment is not available through NHS sources.

Its work also sees it help to relieve cases of family hardship where illness affecting young children or babies is concerned.

The trust has heavily funded work at York Hospital, most notably for the Special Care Baby Unit.

In October 1998 the trust jointly funded a £16,000 ventilator for the unit and in December 2001 the trust helped fund £47,000-worth of MRI equipment for children and youngsters at York Hospital.