Police today condemned a former Midland council leader jailed after stealing more than £80,000 while boss of a charity which was set up to help homeless youngsters.

David Cartwright was branded a “common conman, confidence trickster and something of a fantasist” at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.

The 52-year-old ex-leader of Redditch Borough Council, who had previously pleaded guilty to a catalogue of theft and deception charges, was jailed for three years.

The married father-of-two, of Donnington Close, Redditch, admitted stealing at least £24,695 from the Step Out Drop In charity, between January, 2003, and December, 2005.

He also admitted dishonestly obtaining by deception £21,118 from a government department between June, 1997, and June, 1998, to pay for a worker who didn’t exist.

Cartwright further admitted dishonestly obtaining by deception £37,300 from Redditch council with false invoices for refurbishment work and £5,000 from a charitable trust with a bogus invoice from a builder’s firm.

Det Sgt Robin Vick, from West Mercia Police’s Economic Crime Unit, said: “As an elected representative of the people Cartwright was in a position to assist some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

“Unfortunately, he chose to put his own selfish interests before those of the people he was duty-bound to protect.”

Det Con Andy Moseley, who led the case, added: “People often refer to fraud as a ‘victimless crime’. It never is. In this case, the victims are those homeless and vulnerable people who stood to benefit from this charity but who found themselves looking elsewhere for support and assistance when Mr Cartwright’s criminal activity finally and inevitably led to its collapse.”

Step Out Drop In was formed in 1998 to help homeless youngsters in Worcestershire and Cartwright was employed to bring in extra funds. The charity collapsed in September, 2005.

Inquiries over its failure found a catalogue of discrepancies and sparked a police investigation into Cartwright, who was leader of Redditch council until 2005.

The Court was told Cartwright stole from the charity by raiding the petty cash and forging a trustee’s signature on the charity cheque book.

He also defrauded taxpayers and a charitable trust by filing bogus funding applications and invoices for work.

Mark Cotter, prosecuting, said: “By dishonestly obtaining funding for SODI he was quite literally putting money into the bank he was stealing from. He was creating a cash cow so he could milk it.”

The Court heard Cartwright, who earned the nickname “dodgy Dave,” used the cash to pay for family holidays, new carpets, riding lessons for his daughter and also to pay off his credit cards.

Mr Cotter described his dishonesty as “endemic” adding: “The counts on the indictment do not represent the only dishonest behaviour he engaged upon.”

Antonie Muller, defending, said the intentions of Cartwright, whose life was characterised by “exemplary public service”, were honest when he joined the charity but the situation “overwhelmed him and he became dishonest”.

Cartwright had sold his house to repay some of the money taken from the charity and had a number of debts from loans and credit cards.

Sentencing him, Judge Cooper QC said: “The essence of your fraud offending is the abuse of the power and privilege which you enjoyed as a respected local government leader.”

He added: “Frauds like yours will be detected and punished. I trust your sentence will bring closure for those who felt tainted by your actions.”