A FOOTBALL league is once again back on solid foundations its chairman has said, despite the actions of two women who plundered its coffers for their own gain.

At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing last week 57-year-old Karen Prictor, who is serving a four-year jail term, was found to have benefitted from her crime to the tune of £160,000, while Margaret Rivers, 55, and her husband – 58-year-old husband Andrew – who goes by his middle name Philip, were found to have benefitted from crime by £35,658.

They found myriad of ways to steal subs from the North Wiltshire and District Youth and Minor Football League, but will only repay just a fraction of the money stolen, which was used to pay for a jet-set lifestyle.

The Rivers, of Ramleaze Drive, have been given three months to each hand over £6,782.85p or they will have to serve a five month jail term.

Prictor was given just three months to hand over £25,000 or face a 13-month jail term.

Andy Ratcliffe, chairman of the North Wilts Youth Football League, said: "£38,500 doesn’t seem a lot when you stop to consider that somewhere near £200,000 was systematically stolen – in cash – by these unsavoury thieves."

He described how Rivers and Prictor wreaked “their own particular brand of havoc” upon clubs and teams from the North Wilts League for nearly a decade, all the while they were helping themselves to pots of our cash whenever the fancy took them.

He said: “People work hard for their money nowadays.

"The country hasn’t been long out of recession and parents throughout the region stump up money every week for their kids to play organised football.

“An annual holiday has been a difficult commodity for many people to afford as family finances have been squeezed. When people heard about Rivers and Prictor living a jet-set high life, all at the league's expense, they were rightly very angry.

“These disgusting individuals were plundering hard cash regularly and they paid no regard whatsoever for other volunteers involved in all aspects of the game, all of innocently give up their time every week in order to provide football for children."

He added: “It’s easy to think that Rivers and Prictor got their just desserts by being imprisoned back in the summer, but the amounts they are being told to pay back – relative to what they pleaded guilty to stealing from the league – make those original sentences seem a bit lenient.

“As far the league is concerned though, once the money arrives in the bank account, our management committee will be able to look at more ways to improve the game for the 5,000 plus North Wilts League players who enjoy football with us every weekend.

“Whilst the compensation isn’t anywhere near what was stolen, the league is already back on very solid foundations and the management committee have quietly gone about rebuilding things while the unsavoury stuff was going on, so the £38,500 will of course greatly aid the cause."

He added that the league was in a great place right now thanks to the “fantastic, professional and dedicated people" who run it.