THE JURY has today retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of the founder of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust, who denies allegations of fraud and theft.

Colin Nesbitt, 60, of Kent Road, Bingley, was cleared part-way through the trial on the direction of Judge Jonathan Gibson of three charges of supplying false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

He still faces five charges of fraud and two of theft between 2009 and 2015.

At noon, the jury at Bradford Crown Court retired to consider its verdicts in the trial that began in mid-February.

Prosecutor James Lake accuses Nesbitt of paying large amounts of cash into accounts not linked to the charity and giving out dishonest loans with its money.

Mr Lake said Nesbitt had sole control of the charity’s accounts and did not want other people banking cash from fundraising events.

But Nesbitt’s barrister, Matthew Donkin, said the prosecution case was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the workings of the charity and the businesses associated with it.

Nesbitt told the jury the charity was formed to give toys to children with cancer.

The idea came because his young grandson was poorly.

Nesbitt said he put his own money into buying the toys and then people began raising funds to help the cause.

“It was awesome taking toys to sick children,” he told the jury.

The toy drops began at St James Hospital in Leeds but spread to other hospitals across the country.

Nesbitt said he was leading the fundraising and spreading the word after the charity was founded in June 2008.

He was passionate about raising money to “give a kid a toy.” A thousand pounds was spent on toys for each hospital visit.

He said he spent a lot of time speaking to the parents of sick children and did big toy drops at Christmas and Easter.

It was hard to keep a track on the finances and “every charity has a cost” in terms of wages, vehicles, fuel and other expenses.

“I wasn’t being careful enough with the money but I wasn’t being dishonest,” he said.

He had loaned the charity money to set it up, he told the court. Overheads included buying three vans for £5,000 each and fully equipping them.

Mr Lake alleged in his closing speech that Nesbitt was “the charity’s biggest liability” because he was greedy and dishonest.

“He did raise money for charity and put smiles on children’s faces but all the while he was the charity’s biggest liability and feathering his own nest,” he said.

He alleged the wheels began to come off his “deceit and lies” in the summer of 2015.

“He was plainly not acting properly in the running of this charity,” Mr Lake said.

He said Nesbitt used the charity’s money for his personal expenditure, including buying a suit and paying for a holiday in Gran Canaria.

He accused him of skimming cash off the fundraising fire walk events. He was the only person who banked the money from them. Others would count it but he would always bank it, Mr Lake said.

“Colin Nesbitt is a dishonest man. He did not run this charity badly, he ran it dishonestly,” he told the jury.

Mr Donkin said in his closing speech that the jury must be sure of Nesbitt’s guilt or ac-quit him.

The prosecution had to prove something criminal or dishonest had been going on and there was a lack of evidence to show that there was.

Of Nesbitt’s alleged dishonesty, Mr Donkin said: “What does he have to show for it? It was hardly a lavish lifestyle.”

If Nesbitt had a legitimate reason for moving money between bank accounts then he had done nothing dishonest.

The money was spent on toy drops and wages, Mr Donkin said.

The trial continues.