THE FOUNDER of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust has been found guilty of stealing £87,000 from the charity and abusing his position as director by putting its money into bank accounts in his name.

Colin Nesbitt was this afternoon convicted of four offences of fraud and one of theft between 2009 and 2015.

Nesbitt, 60, of Kent Road, Bingley, will be sentenced on April 30.

Judge Jonathan Gibson told him “a custodial sentence will be under consideration.”

Nesbitt’s bail was enlarged until the sentencing hearing.

He was found guilty at Bradford Crown Court of two charges of abusing his position as director of the Little Heroes Cancer Trust by transferring monies and/or depositing cash and cheques belonging to the trust in sums of £44,000 and £181,230 into accounts in his name.

He was cleared of a further similar charge of fraud in the sum of £120,482.

Nesbitt was convicted of making dishonest loans in the sums of £16,000 and £5,000 and stealing £87.080 belonging to the Little Heroes Cancer Trust.

He was acquitted of a further count of stealing £7,000 from the trust.

He was cleared part-way through the trial of three charges of supplying false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

Prosecutor James Lake told the jury that Nesbitt paid large amounts of cash into accounts not linked to the charity and gave out dishonest loans with its money on two occasions.

He had sole control of the accounts and did not want other people banking cash from fundraising events.

The trust was founded in 2008 to give toys to children in hospital with cancer.

The idea came when Nesbitt’s own grandson became ill with the disease, the jury heard.

Nesbitt told the court: “It was awesome taking toys to sick children.”

The toy drops began at St James Hospital in Leeds but spread to other hospitals across the country, with £1,000 spent on toys every time.

Nesbitt conceded it was hard to keep a track on the finances but denied any wrongdoing.

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

But Mr Lake labelled him “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 accused Nesbitt of using the charity’s money for his personal expenditure; including buying a suit and paying for a holiday in Gran Canaria, and skimming cash off the fundraising fire walk events.

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