A MAN who was found guilty of theft from a Newport charity will have to pay back the £2,300 he stole.

Richard Morgan will have to pay back the money he stole from Newport Mind at £10 per week, a sentencing hearing in Newport Crown Court heard yesterday.

But Judge Philip Richards did not jail Morgan, 50, of Dickens Drive, Newport, and instead gave him a suspended sentence.

It could take Morgan four-and-a-half years to pay off the figure.

Morgan, who worked as a bookeeper at the charity in Commercial Street, was found guilty of theft after a two-day trial last year.

One of his roles was banking rent from people it placed in Charter Housing accommodation.

After tenants asked why their cheques had not been cashed and Morgan went off sick, it emerged that £2,356.16 was missing from the charity’s safe.

At trial Morgan said he didn’t know what happened to the money but said he was unable to do his job properly as he was going through an emotional breakdown.

Speaking for the defence yesterday, Owen Williams said Morgan was in receipt of £91.40 in employment and support allowance and housing benefit and could pay back £10 a week.

Judge Richards imposed a sentence of 18 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and said that until Morgan’s financial circumstances change he should pay £10 a week.

The order will be reviewed in six months’ time if a magistrates court does not vary the order beforehand.